Sen. Markey calls on lawmakers to extend the deadline on TikTok ban

Today, Senator Ed Markey introduced a bill to extend the deadline for the TikTok ban by 270 days. Fight for the Future supports this bill as a necessary intervening step that should have broad approval even among those that support the reasoning behind the ban. To encourage support, we are updating DontBanTikTok.com to push lawmakers to co-sponsor the bill.

The following statement can be attributed to our Director, Evan Greer (she/her)::

“Every member of Congress should support the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act. TikTok going dark in a few days serves no one’s interest, and this bill simply delays the deadline. The fact is that the ban is so unpopular that TikTok users are flocking to the expressly Chinese owned TikTok alternative RedNote in protest. The ban going into effect has significant security risks involved without even considering RedNote. Bad actors can easily deceive those looking for solutions to the TikTok ban by promising “patches”, “workarounds”, and “alternatives” that are merely malware and spyware. 

TikTok going dark means the millions of creators that rely on the app will see their livelihoods disrupted. Users that rely on TikTok to share, organize, and have fun will have little alternative except for Big Tech platforms that are more than happy to scoop up new users to increase their power.”

For additional information, please refer to Evan Greer’s OpEd on the TikTok ban.