“The View”'s Alyssa Farah Griffin slams Republican politicians against bill that could ban TikTok: 'The crazy caucus'
The Republican cohost said opponents like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, and Nancy Mace "don’t understand foreign adversary threats and every day play into it."
The View's Republican cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin was unafraid to call out the "crazy" GOP members who voted against the recently approved TikTok ban bill on Thursday’s episode of the show.
The legislation, which was by a vote of 352-65 in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, would require the app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its stakes in the platform within six months of the bill’s enactment or face being banned in the United States. It is now set to go to a forthcoming Senate vote.
“Some of the folks who are against this bill — the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Nancy Mace — I’m sorry, they’re the crazy caucus," the host, who has previously rebuked the platform online, said. "[They] don't understand foreign adversary threats and everyday they're playing into it."
Earlier in the conversation, Griffin specifically called out the "bipartisanship" backing of the bill. “When 352 lawmakers, left and right, come together and say this is a bill that needs to be passed, Americans should listen,” she said, before noting that “TikTok has been described as digital fentanyl.”
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The stars of 'The View'Griffin went on to claim that there are “major privacy,” “national security,” and “mental health concerns” for users. “This [bill] is not going to make TikTok go away,” she stressed. “It’s going to say an American entity needs to buy it so there are restrictions and safety rails in place.”
Sunny Hostin added that the company previously confirmed that it had spied on journalists in the past and is actively “getting our information” through the app, too. “But isn’t our information already out there?” Whoopi Goldberg asked. “It feels like everybody’s trying to do the same thing: They’re trying to get all the 411 on everybody.”
Sara Haines responded that “the problematic detail is that [China] is an adversary of the country.” She continued, “With this particular push of this bill, they actually used the location on all the phones to push people to their congresspeople, so our congress was being inundated mostly by young people crying about how they were going to lose TikTok, because they were also falsely told we’re going to eliminate TikTok.” For the record, Haines' assessment was a bit off. The app did not geolocate users, instead it delivered push notifications to their phones, prompting users to manually input their ZIP codes to help find their representative to urge the House to oppose the bill.
Haines added that she thinks “TikTok will be sold,” noting that “there are already investors being gathered by [former United States Secretary of the Treasury] Steve Mnuchin” and that “Kevin O’Leary has offered to buy it.”
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Alyssa Farah Griffin on 'The View'“But is it smart to sell TikTok in an environment where all the concerns we’re talking about are not concerns we’re protecting here?” Goldberg pressed.
While Griffin acknowledged that U.S. social media companies similarly have “major privacy issues,” she maintained that there’s a “level of accountability” and “public outcry” that can be achieved by bringing them in front of Congress. “We have no oversight because this is the Chinese Communist Party,” she said, adding that “we’ve seen radicalization" and that people have been “exposed to things related to eating disorders” on TikTok “within minutes of being on the app.” (TikTok has maintained that it is not influenced by the Chinese government, calling the claim an "inaccurate trope" in a letter to Congress).
"There is a unique, ugly playing field of TikTok where people are hearing things that are dangerous and divisive," she said, "and it’s tearing us apart."
A TikTok spokesperson issued the following statement to EW in response to The View discussion: "This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: it's a ban. We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service."
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said the House passed the bill unanimously.
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