House passes bill to ban or force sale of TikTok
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null / Credit: Solen Feyissa|Wikimedia|CC BY-SA 2.0Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).The House has passed a bill that could ban the massively popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from being used in the U.S.Titled the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," the measure passed in an overwhelming bipartisan 352-65 vote. Though the bill does not ban TikTok outright, it prohibits "distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services" to any app controlled by an entity determined to be a foreign adversary. If made law, the bill will force TikTok's Chinese owner to either sell the platform or face a U.S. ban. This means that if the company is sold to an American owner, it would be allowed to continue to operate in the U.S. However, if TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, retains ownership of TikTok, U.S. users will not be allowed to use the app.House members supporting the bill voiced their concerns th...
null / Credit: Solen Feyissa|Wikimedia|CC BY-SA 2.0
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).
The House has passed a bill that could ban the massively popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from being used in the U.S.
Titled the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," the measure passed in an overwhelming bipartisan 352-65 vote. Though the bill does not ban TikTok outright, it prohibits "distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services" to any app controlled by an entity determined to be a foreign adversary.
If made law, the bill will force TikTok's Chinese owner to either sell the platform or face a U.S. ban. This means that if the company is sold to an American owner, it would be allowed to continue to operate in the U.S. However, if TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, retains ownership of TikTok, U.S. users will not be allowed to use the app.
House members supporting the bill voiced their concerns that TikTok poses a threat to national security and could also be acting as a propaganda outlet for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Some opponents of the bill, meanwhile, voiced concerns that the bill could curb First Amendment rights. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, called the TikTok ban a "Trojan horse," saying it gives the government too much power to determine which platforms Americans can access.
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, told CNA that he believes "Catholics should resolutely stand against TikTok, not simply to protect Catholics, but to safeguard the well-being of everyone else as well."
"Congress needs to ban TikTok," he said. "It is not only a pernicious, predatory force that exploits young people, especially girls, it is inextricably tied to the Chinese Communist Party. As such, its content is predictably manipulative and seductive."
The bill will now move to the Senate for consideration, where some senators have previously expressed concerns with TikTok. In a January Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, accused the CCP of targeting American children to promote harmful content through TikTok.
"If you look at what is on TikTok in China, you are promoting to kids science and math videos and educational videos and you limit the amount of time kids can be on TikTok. In the United States, you are promoting to kids self-harm videos and anti-Israel propaganda. Why is there such a dramatic difference?" Cruz said.
President Joe Biden has signaled he would sign the bill into law if passed by both the House and Senate, according to reporting by Politico.
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Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne. / Credit: Diocese of Burlington, VermontCNA Staff, Apr 29, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).A New England prelate is urging Catholics to both minister to transgender-identifying individuals in the Catholic Church while still continuously affirming "the goodness of human creation" as male and female.Coadjutor Archbishop Christopher Coyne of Hartford, Connecticut, told CNA last week that he would make it a point not to challenge a transgender-identifying man or woman when they present as the opposite sex.Coyne appeared on Connecticut Public Radio earlier this month arguing against the basic claim of gender ideology, which argues that men and women who "identify" as the opposite sex should be treated as such."Biology is biology. You're either XX or XY. That's a scientific fact. You can't un-prove that fact," the bishop told public radio. But, he argued, the LGBT debate has "pulled me more into a place of understanding and care," including regarding trans...
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The Verona Arena is illuminated at night on Aug. 3, 2018, in Verona, Italy. The Holy See Press Office on Monday, April 29, 2024, released the pope's schedule for a one-day trip to the city scheduled for May 18, 2024, on the vigil of Pentecost. / Credit: Athanasios Gioumpasis/Getty ImagesRome Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).After completing a one-day trip to Venice, Pope Francis is set to return to northern Italy in late May for a visit to the city of Verona, where he will attend events focused on peace and justice while also meeting with clergy, laity, and inmates. The Holy See Press Office on Monday released the pope's schedule for the one-day trip scheduled for May 18 on the vigil of Pentecost. Located in the Veneto region, approximately 75 miles from Venice, the city is renowned for its trove of Roman antiquities, medieval architecture, and as the setting of Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet."Pope Francis will leave the Vatican by helicopter at 6:30 ...
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Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis opened his one-day visit to Venice on Sunday morning with a meeting with female inmates where he reaffirmed the importance of fraternity and human dignity, noting that prison can be a place of new beginnings. "A stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," the pope said to the female inmates gathered in the intimate courtyard of the Women's Prison on the Island of Giudecca. Pope Francis left the Vatican by helicopter at approximately 6:30 in the mo...