The Issue: The House passing a bill that would ban TikTok if China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake.
The House of Representatives has taken the big first step in banning TikTok — or forcing ByteDance to sell its stake (“House socks TikTok,” March 14).
The bipartisan legislation was authored by Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin. We shall see where it goes from here, but for now there are some lingering questions.
First, who were the 65 reps who voted against the bill? There is nothing more important than our national security.
Why Sen. Chuck Schumer is unsure if he will bring the bill to a vote is also strange, but I’m sure there is a political reason. President Biden has said he would sign the bill if it got passed through the Senate. We need to get this bill signed into law to curb China’s influence.
Bob Robustelli
Stamford, Conn.
This is a perfect example of the adage “Closing the barn door after the horses have bolted.”
TikTok is already ingrained in American youth culture.
It’s also a good bait-and-switch, keeping people occupied with this proposed ban while ignoring more important issues.
Kathryn Ruskin
Boynton Beach, Fla.
China wants to expand its influence across the world and the Chinese Communist Party knows the addictive TikTok platform will help it do this. Beijing also knows that American youth are vulnerable to misinformation.
Ban the Chinese-controlled version of TikTok and let an American patriot buy the company.
JR Cummings
Manhattan
I don’t think TikTok should be owned by a Chinese company. It might be tolerable if it were owned by a company based in a non-adversarial country. The Chinese have easy access to our information, although they can likely get it anyway through other means.
Social media sites tracking our information across platforms must also be addressed. That’s the real issue here.
I disagree with section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which states that internet platforms are not liable for what people write on them. Social media is no different than cable news or newspapers. It should be held to the same standards.
Mindy Rader
New City
The Issue: The state Assembly moves to repeal an antiquated law prohibiting sex outside of marriage.
Congratulations to Assemblyman Charles Lavine for his work in repealing the adultery law (“State of affairs: lawfully bedded,” March 14).
Some might believe crime, illegal immigration, inflation and a failing school system warrant lawmakers’ attention. Apparently this is not so. Our legislators know their priorities. This unenforceable law will now take its place in the dustbin of archaic concepts like shoplifting and stop-and-frisk.
Robert Mangi
Westbury
What we have here is our lawmakers’ attempt to do what is referred to as “bikeshedding” (also known as “Parkinson’s law of triviality”): devoting a lot of time to trivial tasks while ignoring more important concerns.
Right now, the left-wing members of the state Assembly are wasting time on nonsense rather than addressing our sanctuary-city issues and bail-reform debacles. This system led to a migrant who was arrested in New York and then quickly released going on to allegedly murder a nursing student, Laken Riley, in Georgia.
Martin Garfinkle
Staten Island
The Democrats are burying family structure, morality, values and religion. The repeal of this law is the final nail in the coffin.
Anton Loew
Manhattan
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