Anti-TikTok legislation a thinly-disguised Patriot Act for the internet

Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Tom Thune (R-S.D.) have introduced bipartisan legislation called the Restrict Act that is claimed to be about blocking or disrupting financial transactions and holdings linked to foreign adversaries that pose a risk to national security. In truth, the bill appears to be little more than an extension of the USA Patriot Act from the George W. Bush years.

If passed, the Restrict Act would hand the government enormous new powers to punish free speech. This appears to be the intent of the bill, which was concocted by someone with an extensive history of standing in direct opposition to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Exposed by Michael Krieger in 2018 and confirmed in the recent Twitter Files drops as someone who pushed for the “weaponization” of Big Tech, Warner crafted the Restrict Act to “take swift action against technology companies suspected of cavorting with foreign governments and spies, to effectively vanish their products from shelves and app stores when the threat they pose gets too big to ignore,” according to Wired.

Listed in the legislation as bad actors are China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela. Not listed in the Restrict Act is any specific mention of TikTok, which appears more as the Trojan Horse or excuse to erase even more of Americans’ constitutional rights...<<<Read More>>>...