Congressman Jeff Jackson ’s up-to-the-minute TikTok video starts simply : “ I apologize . ” Last hebdomad , the House of Representatives passed a throwaway that could at long last ban TikTok from the US . For many , it turned Jackson into foeman number one . The North Carolina Democrat spent the last year amassing 2.3 million followers on TikTok , leveraging the app to turn himself from a no - name first - terminus congressman to a out-and-out internet renown . But Jackson join 352 other House phallus in support of the so - called TikTok “ Bachelor of Arts in Nursing , ” trigger off scandalisation , cries of lip service , and even confederacy possibility . Now , Jackson delete a video celebrating the bill and is desperately try out to salvage his on-line repute .
“ I did not handle this position well from top to bottom , and that is why I have been completely jest at on this app over the last 48 hour , ” Jackson said on TikTok Sunday . “ And I get it . If I were in your shoes , I would probably feel the same way . I would see someone who used this app to build a followers and appear to have voted against it , and I would be upset . ”
The influencer apologyis a time - honored net tradition , and like so many before him , Jackson ’s picture follow the classic “ sorry , not sorry ” format . He stops short of aver his vote itself was a misapprehension , apologizing instead , essentially , for the fact that people misconstrue the state of affairs .
Screenshot: TikTok / Gizmodo
Rep. Jeff Jackson ( NC ): TikTok#politics#fyp#nc#charlotte#raleigh#greensboro#durham
♬ original sound – Jeff Jackson
“ I reckon this would just be a better app if we did n’t have to worry about the stuff that arrive with it being potentially controlled by an adversarial government . The part I did n’t like is the part that threaten a forbiddance . Half the land is on this app . It has become a military force for good in the lives of 1000000 of people , ” Jackson said . “ So I weighed those two thing , and the rationality I voted for it is because I genuinely believe the fortune of a ban is practically zero for a lot of reasons ; fiscal , political , geopolitical . I just do n’t retrieve there ’s any real fortune of a forbiddance . I still trust that , but maybe I got that balance wrong . ”
Jackson posted a telecasting celebrating the broadside on the day it passed the House , presenting the argument against the app and suggesting a prohibition is unbelievable . The video backfired , and after widespread criticism , Jackson pulled it off of TikTok . Users posted countless viralvideos lambasting the representative , some evoke he ’s on Meta ’s paysheet — which Jackson categorically denies . Jackson is n’t the only TikTok - using penis of Congressto voting against the app , but as the app ’s biggest influencer politico , criticism against him was the loudest . After the TikTok bill blow over , Jackson lost one C of thousands of followers .
The broadside , which sailed through the House just a week after its debut , does n’t call for a ban in a flash . rather , it would push TikTok ’s Taiwanese parent company ByteDance to sell the app , though the app would be ban if that sale did n’t go through in prison term . The measure face an uncertain way in the Senate , and while President Biden promised to sign it if it comes across his desk , even if it became a law , TikTok is certain to gainsay the legislation in court of justice . If the bill pilot all of those hurdling , the app would witness many eager to corrupt it . All of that makes a ban unbelievable . However , a ban is still a very genuine threat .
The material job is the argumentation behind the warfare on TikTok . Starting with former President Trump , American politicians have been banging the drum against the app for almost five yr now , warning that the Chinese regime could use the app to glean user data or manipulate TikTok ’s algorithm to influence American voters .
However , the US government hasnever produced a shred of evidenceto demonstrate that the Taiwanese government has actually used or influence TikTok in any out or keeping way . TikTok maintains that it operates independently and has never share user data with the Formosan government . The concerns are alarming and the hypothetical are real possibilities , but so far , it appears they are only hypothetical .
The fact that Jackson could n’t say anything inviolable than TikTok might be “ potentially controlled ” by China seems to acknowledge this .
In Congress , there ’s far-flung sustenance not just for forcing ByteDance to sell the app but also for banning the app outright . The politics ’s intelligence agencies have briefed Congress about the app in closed - threshold hearings , but the nature of the evidence Congress has seen is indecipherable .
Some , like Jackson , said these classified hearing demonstrated the need for action . “ I have entropy about this app that is n’t public , ” Jackson say in his television . “ I ’ve been a part of some briefings about this app that were genuinely alarming . ”
However , others who vote against the ban , such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene , suggest that they did n’t see evidence in these hearings that demonstrated that TikTok poses any unique threats .
For example , there ’s well - established evidence that Russia harnessed Facebook and X / Twitter to spread misinformation and tailor-make engagement during the 2016 presidential election . And all of the major social media apps , including Facebook , Instagram , X , YouTube , and Snapchat , havepartnered with Formosan advertising technology companies , meaning those apps have send American drug user data abroad , potentially bring out that tender data to the Chinese administration . It ’s also deserving mention that Meta , Facebook ’s parent company , engage a conservative lobbying business firm to malign TikTokand convince Congress the app is a threat to American nipper .
All of that leaves TikTok ’s detractors like Representative Jackson in a unmanageable position , defending their attack on the app to an angry public but unable to present their evidence against TikTok — if that grounds live in the first place .
“ My thinking was I could conciliate those two things by making a video that said ‘ Hey here ’s the position . ’ And that was a full disaster . I really overrate my power to do that in a really red-hot moment when millions of people were optical maser - focussed on this , ” Jackson said . “ I jazz this up . ”
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