S.T.O.P. Condemns Biden TikTok Ban

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For Immediate Release S.T.O.P. Condemns Biden TikTok Ban (New York, NY 4/25/24) – Today, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy and civil rights group, condemns President Biden for signing a bill banning TikTok in the U.S. if parent company ByteDance does not sell the app’s American operations within a year. The civil rights organization labeled the move hypocritical, as Facebook and other U.S. social media giants harvest users' data to the same if not a greater extent than TikTok. S.T.O.P. called for expanded privacy regulation across all social media apps rather than careless bans that undermine freedom of expression. SEE: NPR - President Biden signs law to ban TikTok nationwide unless it is sold https://www.npr.org/2024/04/24/1246663779/biden-ban-tiktok-us The Boston Globe - The TikTok backlash is hypocritical https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/23/opinion/tiktok-backlash-is-hypocritical/ “It’s true that TikTok is invasive, but so are Facebook and plenty of other U.S.-based social media services,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Communications Director Will Owen. “If Biden wants to tackle the threat of mass social media surveillance, he should start at home. This ban is nativist alarmism and isn’t driven by any real concern for Americans’ privacy rights. Instead of undermining freedom of expression with this absurd ban, the federal government should implement expanded privacy protections across all social media apps.”  SEE: New York Post - NY may ban TikTok from government-issued phones over China spying threat https://nypost.com/2022/12/12/proposed-law-aims-to-make-ny-latest-state-to-ban-tiktok-on-state-government-phones/ The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state-level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color. --END-- CONTACT: S.T.O.P. Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. Copyright © 2021 Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, All rights reserved.