TikTok, a social media app
© XanderSt/Shutterstock

TikTok’s Time in Congress

United States Congress met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew last week in his first appearance defending the use of the mobile app (application) in the United States. TikTok is a social media service for sharing videos. The mobile app enables users to instantly post (publish online) short videos set to music or other sound. While TikTok is a Chinese company, it is not accessible in China. However, it is extremely popular in the United States. The main concern over TikTok is that the app collects data from users that could be sent to Chinese authorities. Lawmakers also stated that the app is unhealthy for children since the algorithms can show dangerous videos to young users. Shou Chew maintained the technology is not different than other United States tech giants like Instagram and Facebook. Some people have skyrocketed to fame through TikTok, including Addison Rae, Charli D’Amelio, and Lil Nas X. Many popular users in the United States defended TikTok on their platforms, reaching millions.

TikTok, which is called Douyin in China, was created in 2016 by the Chinese company ByteDance. TikTok has since become internationally popular. ByteDance purchased the lip-syncing app Musical.ly in 2017 and merged it with TikTok in 2018.

TikTok has several features that allow users to slow down, speed up, or otherwise edit videos. Users can enhance (improve the appearance or quality of) their videos with special camera filters, stickers, text, and video clips. Several TikTok videos are often joined together to make the person on camera appear to instantly shift locations, clothing, or makeup. Users can respond to other videos in a duet. In a duet, two videos are posted side by side and run simultaneously. Duets encourage TikTok users to collaborate (work together).

TikTok videos are often informal and silly. They frequently involve lip-syncing, a style of performance in which the performer’s mouth moves in time with a recorded musical track. The service makes use of hashtags to organize similar videos. A hashtag is a keyword or phrase preceded by the hash symbol or pound sign (#). Hashtags enable users to participate in trends or challenges. In a challenge, users copy a particular video topic or theme—such as a specific visual gag, dance, or song—and post their version on TikTok with the challenge hashtag. Trends and challenges rapidly rise and decline in popularity on TikTok.

Each user has a custom home page that presents select content based on the user’s watching habits. TikTok uses a computerized mathematical procedure called an algorithm that learns a user’s preferences and interests to suggest video content. Users also can become followers of other users, or search for videos by hashtag or username. They can send messages directly to other users and post comments about videos. Some users have gained or increased their fame through the app. The rap and country singer Lil Nas X, for example, was discovered after he began lip-syncing on TikTok. Many songs have grown in popularity after being featured in TikTok videos, trends, and challenges.

December 19, 2019

Yesterday, December 18, the United States House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump. Impeachment is the formal accusation of serious misconduct against a government official. In this case, the accusations of misconduct against President Trump include the abuse of presidential power and the obstruction of Congress—charges that are explained below. Impeachment is an extraordinary check on presidential power. The Constitution specifies that officials shall be removed from office after impeachment for, and conviction of, “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” No president, however, has ever been removed from office under the terms of impeachment.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks to the media following the vote to impeach President Donald Trump on Dec. 18, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Credit: © Sarah Silbiger, Getty Images

In the articles of impeachment, Trump is accused of abusing his power as president by asking a foreign government—that of Ukraine—to investigate a political rival. Asking a foreign government to interfere in the U.S. political system is forbidden by the U.S. Constitution. Trump is accused of pressuring the president of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic contender in the 2020 presidential election. Trump is also accused of obstructing the congressional investigation into the matter. Despite admitting that he asked Ukraine to investigate Biden, Trump insists he did nothing wrong, and he has called the impeachment process a “witch hunt.”

On Dec. 18, 2019, Donald Trump became the third U.S. president in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Credit: The White House

Wednesday’s impeachment vote in the House fell almost entirely along political party lines. The abuse of power charge was approved by a vote of 230-197 (229 Democrats and 1 Independent voted in favor; 2 Democrats opposed the charge, as did all 195 Republicans who continued to support Trump, a Republican; 4 other representatives did not take part). The second charge, of obstruction of Congress, was approved by a vote of 229-198 (228 Democrats and 1 Independent in favor; 3 Democrats and 195 Republicans opposed; 4 not taking part). In January, the impeachment process is due to pass to the Senate, where a trial will determine whether to convict the president and remove him from office. Republicans have a majority in the Senate, so reaching the two-thirds vote required for conviction is unlikely.

Trump is the third U.S. president to be impeached. In 1998, the House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice. The charges developed out of Clinton’s efforts to conceal an improper sexual relationship. The House sent its findings to the Senate, which conducted a trial and found Clinton not guilty. In 1868, the House impeached President Andrew Johnson, who had inherited a wartime dispute between his predecessor, President Abraham Lincoln, and Congress over how to treat the South after the Civil War. After impeachment, a Senate vote failed to remove Johnson from office. Another president, Richard Nixon, resigned from office while facing impeachment in 1974 for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

November 1, 2017

One hundred and twenty years ago today, on Nov. 1, 1897, the new Library of Congress opened its doors to the public for the first time. Previously, the library had been in the Congressional Reading Room of the United States Capitol. Two other buildings have since been added to the library complex, which stands near the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

The Library of Congress, located in Washington, D.C., provides research and reference assistance to the members of the United States Congress. This picture shows the Main Reading Room of the library. The Library of Congress also serves as the national library of the United States. Credit: © Sean Pavone, Shutterstock

The Library of Congress is one of the largest and most valuable research libraries in the world. It has about 160 million items in its collections, including about 40 million books, pamphlets, and other printed materials in 470 languages. There are about 125 million items in the special collections, including charts, engravings, manuscripts, maps, motion pictures, photographs, and recordings. In addition, the Library of Congress has digitized millions of items which can be seen on a website hosted by the library, American Memory. The vast collection of online materials includes millions of books, documents, sound recordings, still and moving images, and maps. The Library of Congress is a partner in UNESCO’s World Digital Library project, to which many of the world’s national libraries are contributing digitized material from their collections.

Congress established the library in 1800. In 1815, it purchased the private library of Thomas Jefferson, which had about 6,000 books. The Library of Congress continued to grow, although several fires—the most serious in 1851—damaged the collections. In 1897, the library moved to a new gray sandstone building east of the Capitol because it was too large to be kept in the Capitol. In 1938, an annex of white Georgia marble was built on an adjoining site. In 1980, the James Madison Memorial Building, the largest library building in the world, was constructed. At that time, the 1897 structure was renamed the Thomas Jefferson Building, and the 1938 annex was renamed the John Adams Building. Together, the three library buildings have about 71 acres (29 hectares) of floor space.

January 2, 2013

The United States House of Representatives passed legislation on January 1 that averted the so-called “fiscal cliff”–dramatic increases in federal income taxes and drastic cuts in federal spending, which theoretically went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on January 1. Eight-five Republicans joined 172 Democrats to vote to raise the federal income tax from 35 percent to 39.6 percent on household income above $400,000 a year for individuals and $450,000 for couples. Earlier in the day, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 89 to 8. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden forged the “fiscal cliff” deal after negotiations between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner broke down after days of discussion.

Certain tax deductions and credits will also be phased out on income above $250,000. For income below those levels, the bill makes permanent the tax cuts implemented during the George W. Bush presidency. The measure also extends unemployment insurance to 2 million unemployed workers who were on the verge of losing federal assistance. The bill delays for two months the automatic cuts, the so-called sequestered funds, to the Department of Defense and other federal agencies that would otherwise have kicked in on January 2. It does not, however, extend the 2-percent cut to the payroll tax that was enacted to stimulate the economy after the 2008 credit crisis and recession.

The House chamber, where the entire House of Representatives meets, has galleries for the public. Visitors may watch the legislators debate important bills. But most of the actual work of the House is done by committees. (© Brooks Kraft, Corbis)

Political experts regard the legislation as a clear victory for President Obama, who ran for reelection vowing to impose higher taxes on the wealthy. House Republicans were unhappy that the legislation did not significantly cut spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and other social programs that Republicans maintain must be trimmed to bring the national debt under control.

Additional World Book articles:

• Congress of the United States
• Economic Crisis: The Banking Meltdown (a special report)
• Entitlements—Benefit of Doubt  (a special report)
• Medicaid in Distress (a special report)
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)