On Tuesday, billionaire tech executive and X owner Elon Musk raised concerns about a bill making its way through Congress that seeks to clamp down on U.S. access to social media applications such as Chinese-owned TikTok unless they sever ties with foreign adversaries that are deemed a national security threat.
Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist” who championed the “Twitter Files,” responded to a post from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) highlighting text from the legislation that addresses websites and businesses that provide services to social media platforms found to be in violation of proposed law.
“The so-called TikTok ban is a trojan horse. The President will be given the power to ban WEB SITES, not just Apps. The person breaking the new law is deemed to be the U.S. (or offshore) INTERNET HOSTING SERVICE or App Store, not the ‘foreign adversary.'” Massie said in a post to X.
“This law is not just about TikTok, it is about censorship and government control!” Musk posted in reply. “If it were just about TikTok, it would only cite ‘foreign control’ as the issue, but it does not.”
