The TikTok Ban Debate: Clashing Views on Safety and Politics.

Senators Josh Hawley and Rand Paul clashed over the future of TikTok on the Senate floor, with Hawley attempting to pass a bill to prohibit the app from operating in the US and ban commercial activity with its parent company, ByteDance. Paul objected, citing the First Amendment and the Constitution's prohibition of bills of attainder. Hawley argued that TikTok has the ability to track Americans' data and personal lives, while Paul suggested that domestic Big Tech companies also collect vast amounts of data from American users. Hawley's bill to ban TikTok on government devices was signed into law in December.