President Donald Trump was an outspoken TikTok critic in the past, but he became a staunch defender after the platform was used to promote him in the 2024 presidential race. And now, Trump wants Americans to maintain their TikTok access.
But Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Michigan) is taking a hardline position with TikTok, maintaining that it should not be available in the United States unless it is totally separated from its parent company: the Beijing-based ByteDance.
In an op-ed published by the conservative National Review on March 18, Moolenaar writes, "In an effort to influence public opinion, ByteDance has flooded the country with TikTok ad campaigns, which only heighten suspicions about the true nature of TikTok's current operations. This is precisely why we should be even more vigilant — ByteDance’s control over TikTok has already jeopardized our national security. The law is clear: any deal must eliminate Chinese influence and control over the app to safeguard our interests."
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Politico's Anthony Adragna notes that Moolenaar, in his National Review op-ed, is responding to "recent reports that the White House is seriously considering a deal to keep TikTok online in the U.S. by selling a stake to the American firm Oracle, which would run TikTok's American operations."
The GOP congressman, in his op-ed, argues, "ByteDance must fully divest its control of TikTok and have no say in its operations; nor can the two share data, content, or algorithms. These are non-negotiable, and any deal that doesn't meet these requirements simply isn’t legal."
Adragna points out that the U.S. Supreme Court, in January, "unanimously upheld the 2024 law banning TikTok as long as it stays in Chinese control."
"President Donald Trump suspended enforcement of the law on January 20, promising to broker a deal that kept the app online in the U.S.," Adragna explains. "He set a 75-day deadline, which expires April 5. There are significant questions about what role China would continue to hold over the app in any potential deal with Oracle."
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Read Rep.John Moolenaar's full op-ed for the National Review at this link (subscription required) and Politico's coverage here.