Chair Rodgers Joins Fox News Rundown to Talk About Protecting Americans' Data from the CCP (3.17.24)

politics can make for strange bedfellows take for example the vote this week in the US House on a bill to force the sale of tick tock or the current Chinese owners facing a ban of the app in the US supporters include President Biden Florida Republican Marco Rubio former speaker Nancy Pelosi current house Speaker Mike Johnson just to name a few in total the house passed that bill 352 to 65 opponents included Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor green and New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio Cortez former president Trump who in office attempted to block Tik Tok also urged opposition to the bill arguing it could expand the reach of meta properties like Facebook now the bill still needs to clear the Senate and that is not a done deal no vote is set and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was non-committal in a statement following the House vote in the meantime prospective buyers are considering a sale former treasury secretary Steve minan says he's putting together investors to potentially purchase Tik Tock Washington Republican Kathy McMorris Rogers helped Usher that Tick Tock Bill through the house she chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee that unanimously Advanced the legislation earlier this month I asked her about the urgency the Constitutional and Free Speech concerns and what other social media regulations she'd like to see the choice would be Tik toks so they could either choose to continue to operate as is under the control of the Chinese Communist party because they are owned by bite dance or they could choose to divest separate from bite dance and the Chinese Communist party and continue to to operate in the United States of America and and businesses and individual users could continue using the app the way that they always have would it have to be an American buyer or could it be a French buyer a the Japanese buyer is there a specific like it has to be American no not at all this bill only applies to applications that are subject to the control of specific adversaries that are listed in the bill and so we list these foreign adversaries as China Russia Iran and North Korea I saw in sort of one of the headlines that the former treasury secretary Steve manian has said that he's trying to put together maybe a group of investors that that would be fine by you yes so so what this legislation does um this bill is about banning foreign adversaries as I just said so it's about banning foreign adversaries like China Iran Russia or North Korea from collecting massive amounts of data through these apps so targeting surveilling manipulating American people through apps such as Tik Tok and uh we have concerns about Tik Tok being owned by bite dance that is controlled by the CCP so if this bill were to pass Tik Tok would have to make this choice and yes uh it could be open to Steven minan or other buyers in the United States of America they could decide to take the company public there would be a whole host of options and obviously Tik Tok is very valuable and I believe that there will be uh a number of uh people and entities that would be interested in purchasing Tik Tok let me ask about those security concerns because Tik Tock and bite dance have said that they do not have this coordin with the CCP that the government in China does not have the kind of access to this data that that you guys fear do you have evidence that they're lying about that Tik Tok has repeatedly been caught in this lie that it doesn't answer to the uh Chinese Communist Party the CCP through bite dance we know that Tik Tok has been used to spy on American journalists and we know that Tik Tok has been used to surveil American user data even uh last week when we were voting on the billing committee uh that morning the 177 million users in America on Tik Tok did not have access to the app that morning until they actually called their representative and voiced their opposition to this bill so Tik Tok had blocked their access to the app and that's just that's just one example where they have the potential to manipulate people for their own gain uh and even internal Tik Tok employee recordings have revealed you know we have quotes where they've said everything is seen in China and we know that we cannot trust China to to uh Safeguard our data uphold American values of Freedom we know that China surveils on its own citizens uh and we cannot we cannot uh allow this tool of the Chinese Communist party to be used to to Target to surveil to manipulate American people through an app like Tik Tok I'm curious about the content side too because I know that there have been concerns expressed by some that you know Tik Tok is a platform that can spread misinformation disinformation especially worrisome I know in election years is that a part of the calculus you seem to be talking more sort of concerned about what China has access to maybe not so much the output am I reading that kind of right yeah this bill is targeting the threat that Tik Tok poses because national security threat that Tik Tok poses because it is owned by bite dance that is beholden to the Chinese Communist party and the access of 177 million American users on this app uh it does it does not regulate content or get into content at all how much of this should Congress play a role in I mean there's kind of an expectation I would think among most tech you know most people online now that you're kind of giving up a level of privacy giving up a level of data right when you you join these apps like I'm a parent I I don't have my kid on Tik Tok because I share some of the concerns you've talked about how come individuals in America parents AR aren't capable of making this decision on their own well unfortunately we do not have a National Data privacy security law in place a standard in place uh I I I have been working on that separately uh but companies are collecting enormous amounts of data just every imaginable data point um you know they're they're collecting it from people's location is who they're connecting to other forms of sensitive information I believe that we need a National Data privacy security law in place to protect Americans online and and especially our children online that are being targeted today and that's a separate legislation that we're working on in Congress this bill is really unique and targeted towards the threat that having a company like Tick Tock that is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party having access to all of this information and all this personal data of Americans um because the algorithms are hidden to us uh we know that they are manipulating this data and it is especially concerning we have grave concerns about uh Tik Tock being owned by a foreign adversary that is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party having this access and what that means to our national security we've been briefed by our National Intelligence agencies those are on the front lines and they have impressed upon us that this is a very real threat the other question that I had and I'm sure you saw I think it was a day or two before the vote former president Trump came out he he opposed this bill he said that he worries that it's going to enhance the the reach of meta of Facebook of Instagram he's very critical obviously of the ownership of Mark Zuckerberg um have you spoken to him were you surprised by by that response and what is your answer to that type of criticism that you know this is only going to to create a bigger problem you know with another social media company president Trump did not say that he opposes what we're doing rather he did Express the concerns with big Tech at large and I completely share those concerns and that's where I'm committed to continuing to work to re in big Tech uh what this bill does is really finish some work that former president Trump started four years ago when he as president work working and seeking to force Tick Tock to divest to separate from the Chinese Communist Party via its ownership by bite dance uh and that's that is what we are attempting to um make sure happens with this very narrow specific bill when you look kind of broadly at social media um I know you're you're a mother you know I don't know if your kids are old enough to be on on all of the social media I my sons about to turn 11 so we're kind of entering that world and I'm learning a lot more about it frankly than I think I knew a couple of months ago but listen there are concerns right about the the impact it has on Mental Health the impact that it has on self-worth certainly the the spread of of maybe dangerous information um you know where should Congress kind of begin and end in trying to regulate this this field whether it's Tik Tok or a company that's us-based like like meta or or X well let me start with Tik Tok and the bill that passed the house and just make very clear that Tik Tok is different because it is owned by a foreign oh yeah certainly yeah so from a data collection point I see how they're different but I guess I'm talking more about like the other concerns that we hear about social media because I know all of these are issues that kind of fall within your jurisdiction in the uh ENC committee yeah so that that bill is very targeted specific to foreign adversaries um separately we have been uh working on legislation that would would bring in a National Data privacy security law into place and would protect Americans online our children online it would uh prohibit the targeting of our children um that's a uh and and what that legislation does is it limits how much data can be collected to begin with it gives individuals the right to know what their profile is it would prohibit the targeting the collection of you know your location data your search uh history all of you know right now there's just limited amounts of data being collected and and then how that can be sold so what the legislation does is put some protections into place for the individual so that if your data first of all you know what the profile is and then if your data is being sold if it's being um transferred if it's being transferred to other countries that you would have to be notified that you would and if and if a if an entity if a business is collecting more you know data beyond what they actually need for that a specific purpose um then you would have to give permission for them to collect data beyond what they actually need for their business purpose or the relationship that you have with this entity I think that's a an interesting component to this because you know especially as it kind of relates to to these adversarial countries that you point out in this bill Russia China Iran North Korea like they can kind of get at this data through other means right I mean there there are like these data Brokers and things like that so that's got to be sort of part of of sort of the broader issue you're talking about yes uh in fact we we did the Energy and Commerce Committee also has passed out uh unanimously a bill that would prohibit data Brokers from selling our personal data to these foreign adversaries and that bill will be voted on this week or this uh this next week in the House of Representatives on this issue I'll finish with the Senate do you think they're going to take this up I I I think that there was some were you surprised it kind of the the non-committal response we've seen this far from the US Senate on this bill are you in conversations with Chuck Schumer and and others over on the other side of the capital building uh Yes actually um immediately after the bill passed the um the chairman of the intelligence committee Senator Mark Warner and Senator Marco Rubio Ed a statement in support uh there's other Senators that are also um voicing support for the bill and for us taking action there have been some other bills that have been introduced in the Senate to address apps like uh like Tik Tock uh but we are in active negotiations and I'm hopeful that the Senate will take action very soon on on this bill I wanted to finish with this if I may only because I I know you have announced that you're not running for reelection um after uh quite a while in in the house and I'm just curious that there seems to be kind of a trend of that right a lot of your colleagues that have been sort of Veteran lawmakers are deciding to retire do something else um what's behind that I mean is it just kind of time that to pass the torch or is Congress not as much fun maybe as it used to be well it's a lot of fun when you're chairing a committee you know I can tell you it's been uh great fun and uh such an honor to chair the Energy and Commerce Committee to be able to lead on important legislation like we've been discussing today continuing to work on privacy legislation uh uh another priority of mine has been price transparency and health care which we also are working on um for me it was it really was time it's time to go home I do have young kids I have three young kids 16 13 and 10 and just uh feeling like you know what it's time to pass the the torch to the next person it's been an honor and privilege to serve and I do believe in this institution deeply it's an amazing institution the House of Representatives and Congress and such an honor to serve and there's going to be there's a lot of people I think there's 10 that have already announced that they they would like to have consideration to uh take my place in the house well I appreciate uh you taking this time and explaining this bill listen that there's a lot of attention on this and and a lot of people have questions so I appreciate you answering ours and uh always appreciate the time you've given us over the the last several years as well congresswoman thank you very much good to be with you thank you