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If you're like many Americans, you're on TikTok.
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In fact, you're probably on it right now while this show plays in the background.
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Hey!
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Hey, I'm on TV over here!
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Pay attention!
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Unless you're watching me on TikTok, in which case, nice, thank you.
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Anyway, TikTok is huge, but if Congress has its way, that's about to change.
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We begin this hour with breaking news up on Capitol Hill.
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Just minutes ago, House lawmakers passed a bill that could lead to a ban of the very popular social media platform TikTok here in the United States.
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The measure would give the company less than six months to sell to a non-Chinese owner.
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If that doesn't happen, TikTok could be shut down here in the United States.
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Lawmakers from both parties warning that China could manipulate the algorithm to spread its own propaganda, or data like your browser history and location could be shared with the Chinese government.
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This is not an attempt to ban TikTok.
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It's an attempt to make TikTok better.
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Tic-tac-toe.
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A winner. A winner.
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That's right. That's right.
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Congress might be banning TikTok or banning Tic-tac-toe.
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I'm not sure Nancy Pelosi knows.
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Also...
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Tic-tac-toe winner?
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Tic-tac-toe is always a tie.
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Unless you're playing with your three-year-old.
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Then I'm winning three out of five times.
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But, yes, obviously, there's a problem with a Chinese app spying on Americans and feeding us propaganda.
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You want American apps doing that.
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But is this app really a Chinese propaganda tool?
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The most viral TikTok right now is just this.
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Chocolate strawberries.
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That has more than 710 million views.
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And there's nothing political about it.
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I mean, yes, it-it does make you want to invade Taiwan a little, but aside from that, it's harmless.
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What's interesting here is how unpredictable the breakdown of the vote was.
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Marjorie Taylor Greene and AOC voted together against the bill.
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Nancy Pelosi and Lauren Boebert voted for it.
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Both nightmare blunt rotations, by the way.
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Meanwhile, Biden s...
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Biden says he'd sign the bill, and Trump has come out against it.
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The only thing you can really count on is that young people hate it, and TikTok is doing everything it can to mobilize them.
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The company has launched an all-out lobbying effort both on the app and here on Capitol Hill.
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If you are on TikTok, there's a good chance you've got an alert to say, call your member of Congress.
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Phones are ringing off the hook in many offices here in Washington.
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We had little children calling into our office and others basically saying questions like, what is Congress?
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What is a congressman?
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Can I have my TikTok back?
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-♪
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That's how you know this issue is important.
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In addition, it forced Gen Z to make their very first phone call.
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And you know, you know congressmen must have been pissed at teenagers blowing up their phones all day.
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I mean, well, Matt Gaetz didn't mind, but...
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-$&%!
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The rest of them were pissed.
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Doug, I have to say, as an American, it's great that these kids are getting involved in the civic process.
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But you're too young to start getting ignored by your congressperson.
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For more on the TikTok ban, we go live to Washington, D.C., with Ronny Chieng.
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-♪ ♪ -$&%!
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Ronny, what's the feeling up on Capitol Hill?
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Uh, I'll tell you what the feeling should be.
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America should be feeling humiliated right now.
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China made an app so popular that the government has to ban it?
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That means communist China beat free-market America at capitalism, all right?
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That's, like, a whole thing, America, and you lost.
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This-this is... this is as bad as that time that Asian dude won the hot dog eating contest six times in a row.
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China beat us so bad at mindless entertainment, we need the government to save us?
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Oh, no, TikTok's too popular.
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Now we're addicted to our phones that are also made in China.
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Ronny, hold-hold on a minute.
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What choice do our leaders have here?
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China's using TikTok to influence people.
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Oh, trust me, I know.
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Before I used TikTok, I was a white guy in Iowa named Mike Sullivan, okay?
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Look at me now. I'm serious.
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Wait, are you... is that true?
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Is that true?
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No! No, you idiots!
