'I will find you and shoot you': Angry TikTok users threaten senator over potential ban
A week after the U.S. House approved a bill that could end up banning TikTok in the United States, the platform is calling on its most devoted users to contact their lawmakers to voice opposition.
Some are including threats with those messages.
After a security briefing Wednesday, Arkansas GOP Senator Tom Cotton called the platform "a grave national security threat to Americans," ABC 7 reported.
The subject of the briefing was allegations that TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, collects data on Americans and shares it with the Chinese government — an accusation the company denies. Also of concern is how the platform could influence the 2024 election.
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"TikTok is a gun aimed at Americans' heads," said Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, "I will say very emphatically, the American people need and deserve to hear what we've just been told. Because they would be deeply frightened.
And attendees revealed some TikTok users are apparently willing to make threats over the potential ban of the app.
"Ok, listen. If you ban TikTok, I will find you and shoot you," one person said in a voicemail to North Carolina GOP Senator Thom Tillis' office. The senator said it's just one threatening message that's emerging from TikTok's call for action from its users, and that illustrates the many problems with the app.
"To have TikTok tell these kids to do that doesn't actually help their case, it hurts their case," Tillis said.
While support grows for some sort of action against TikTok to take place, there's no indication yet that the Senate will take up the bill. If the bill ends up passing the House, it would force ByteDance to sell the app or be banned in the U.S.