Key House Republican warns Trump on TikTok

Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House’s select committee on countering China, drew a hard line this morning against any deal for TikTok that keeps control of the app or its underlying technology in the hands of Beijing-based ByteDance.

“The law is clear: any deal must eliminate Chinese influence and control over the app to safeguard our interests,” he wrote in an op-ed in The National Review.

His op-ed responded 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 Michigan Republican added: “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.”

The op-ed appeared to dig in against two possible elements of a shared-ownership deal: keeping TikTok’s powerful algorithm in Chinese control, or allowing ByteDance any influence on TikTok’s operations.

He noted that in January, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 2024 law banning TikTok as long as it stays in Chinese control. Congress passed it with broad bipartisan support, and then-President Joe Biden signed it.

President Donald Trump suspended enforcement of the law on Jan. 20, promising to broker a deal that kept the app online in the U.S. 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. Republicans in Congress are expected to be briefed on the contours of the possible deal this week.

Moolenaar used his op-ed to chastise a 2023 plan from ByteDance called “Project Texas” that was supposed to keep American data on American-based servers. Many lawmakers at the time, including Moolenaar, said the plan failed to address their national security concerns regarding the Chinese government's alleged influence over the app.

“It’s no shock that even after Project Texas was rolled out, Americans’ data kept flowing to China, and ByteDance still had the power to censor and quietly manipulate users through TikTok’s algorithm.”

Though several China hawks on Capitol Hill have voiced similar concerns in the past two months, it’s unclear what role Moolenaar, or any other member of Congress, would have in enforcing the law if they consider a deal to violate its terms.