NOT THE KIND OF VIRAL YOU WANT: “TikTok dropped a public hammer on Washington on Thursday, sending a direly worded alert to users urging them to call Congress and stop a bill designed to cut China’s ties to the app,” our Rebecca Kern reports, signaling “how seriously the video-sharing giant is taking Congress’ latest effort to rein in a platform that has long been under fire from Washington with little regulation to show so far.” — “The move recruited TikTok’s vast user base as a new kind of influence weapon — a maneuver that some tech companies have tried before, this time boosted by the power of immediate alerts, precision targeting and millions of hyper-enthusiastic fans.” — “The alert was sent to the phones of TikTok users whose House members were on the Energy and Commerce Committee, according to a person familiar with the campaign. The committee was voting on the bill Thursday. Users got a pop-up alert saying, ‘TikTok is at risk of being shut down in the US. Call your representative now.’ They also got a link to a website describing the law as ‘the TikTok ban.’ The measure would force Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban on U.S. app stores.” — “TikTok users flooded some congressional offices with dozens of calls. Results were mixed: Some staffers dismissed the callers as uninformed, or as pranksters, or as ‘teenagers and old people saying they spend their whole day on the app.’ Some predicted it could cause a backlash.” The blitz apparently did not work on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which voted 50-0 to send the bill to the House floor. AI DOOMSAYER GROUP HIRES AKIN GUMP: The Center for AI Safety Action Fund, a new organization pushing policymakers to address possible catastrophic risks posed by artificial intelligence, has hired several outside lobbyists to put more pressure on Washington — including Reggie Babin, the longtime former chief counsel to Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, per Brendan Bordelon and your host. — Babin, Hans Rickhoff, former Nancy Pelosi aide Arshi Siddiqui, former Obama administration aide Ed Pagano and former Paul Ryan aide Casey Higgins of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld began working last month to press Capitol Hill and federal agencies on AI legislation and regulation. All of those lobbyists save for Siddiqui were hired by OpenAI in November to lobby on much the same set of issues. — The hire adds to an escalating lobbying effort by groups that warn about existential risks posed by AI, and comes as Congress prepares to enter a new phase in its efforts to regulate the technology — with the help of a Schumer-led bipartisan Senate working group. — Some AI researchers and industry lobbyists worry that groups like CAIS are pushing Washington to impose restrictive safety rules that would make it tougher for tech companies to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic and other leading AI labs. THE NEW(ISH) GUN LOBBY ON THE BLOCK: “The top advocate for the gun industry in Washington is spending more than ever to influence the federal government. The group accuses President Joe Biden of waging war on the Second Amendment. It resists any effort to create universal background checks and argues that attempts to crack down on untraceable ‘ghost guns’ are unnecessary,” NBC News’ Suzy Khimm reports. “And it’s not the National Rifle Association.” — “The NSSF, founded more than 60 years ago to promote hunting and recreational shooting, has grown into the country’s largest firearms trade association. The organization spent more than $5.4 million on federal lobbying last year, more than in any other year in its history and more than twice as much as the NRA, according to federal records.” — “The NRA — long seen as synonymous with the gun-rights movement — has struggled with declining membership and revenue, as well as internal scandals. The latest blow came when its longtime leader, Wayne LaPierre, was found liable for corruption in a New York court last month. As the NRA cuts back on federal lobbying, its troubles have created an opportunity for other gun-rights advocates to expand — especially the NSSF,” formerly known as the National Shooting Sports Foundation. A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION THAT CAME TRUE: IHRSA, the primary trade association representing the fitness industry, debuted its new name today: the Health & Fitness Association. The rebrand is the culmination of a yearslong process that started with the trade group’s hiring of a new CEO, former candy lobbyist Liz Clark, back in 2021, and stemmed from a desire to grow the industry’s influence in the halls of power by making its mission more clear. — The 40-year-old trade group had been using its old name, the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, since 1994, but it started to become a source of confusion among some policymakers who weren’t always clear on the group’s mission and membership, Jeff Solsby, a spokesperson for the group, told PI. — Changing the name “is the clearest and most effective way for Liz and [chief lobbyist Mike Goscinski] as advocates on the Hill and in state capitals to explain who the industry is, and what the mission of the industry is, in a way that in a way that resonates with policymakers,” Solsby added. — Following the rebrand, the trade group plans to focus on “making the industry a part of the conversation as an advocate for the transition from prescriptive health care to preventative health care,” Solsby said, positioning the fitness industry as one with “a central role in that conversation and that policy discussion.” One of the group’s top priorities in recent years has been working to pass legislation to let people use pre-tax accounts like HSAs and FSAs to help pay for fitness-related expenses. MEA CULPA: Yesterday’s newsletter misstated Rep. Debbie Dingell’s (D-Mich.) retirement status — she is not retiring. PI regrets the error.
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