Today, I voted against the H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. My opposition to this legislation is two-fold. I have First Amendment concerns of about forcing Americans to lose access to the platform of their choice. Whatever national security concerns may exist, there is not enough evidence of a threat to suggest that the government should step in and regulate that form of expression. I also have fundamental issues with the aim of this legislation. Congress should instead work to address the challenges of TikTok while adhering to our commitment to protect American's right to freedom of association and expression. 

The American people have a right to be in control of their personal data. That's why I have continued to call for Congress to pass comprehensive data privacy legislation that establishes robust federal data security standards, prohibits data collection abuses from social media platforms and other online businesses, and finally regulates the data brokers that collect and sell intensely personal data from millions of Americans. 

TikTok raises unique concerns because its parent company, ByteDance, is headquartered in Beijing. ByteDance is, therefore, subject to laws that require its data to be stored in China, allowing the Chinese government unfettered access to that data. However, rather than singling out specific companies or countries, Congress should work to reduce the massive stores of personal data currently collected by all businesses. Doing so will substantially reduce opportunities for all governments, including the Chinese government, to buy or steal personal data.