OK. Stop right there.

The TikTok bill isn’t just about TikTok

There’s also an exemption for websites and apps “whose primary purpose is to allow users to post product reviews, business reviews, or travel information and reviews.” While that might sound like it applies only to apps like Yelp and Tripadvisor, aides for several lawmakers acknowledged they aren’t sure exactly what the exemption’s true intent is or why it’s in the bill.

[Emphasis mine.]

Really?

“There’s obviously something afoot,” [said] Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). “You don’t airdrop a paragraph into a piece of legislation exempting one category of business that has nothing to do with the thing that you’re supposedly banning, so for me it raises a flag. I don’t know who the exemption is for.”…

“The rush to pass this bill that could potentially censor the speech of 170 million Americans and that have favorable exclusions for certain companies highlights Congress’s lack of seriousness on tech policy,” [said] Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

But the bill did pass in the house, and goes to the Senate now.

Is it too much to ask that Congress quits screwing around?