Two Republican lawmakers, including the chair of the House China committee, stepped up their attacks Thursday against a potential White House deal to sell TikTok to Oracle that preserves a role for its Beijing-based owner.
“I’m here to make one thing clear: any deal that allows ByteDance to maintain control of TikTok is a grave threat to our security and a violation of U.S. law,” House Select Committee on China Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) said, repeating the hard line he drew against the Oracle plan in an earlier op-ed. “ByteDance is trying to hold onto TikTok by pushing a licensing deal and maintaining control over its algorithm and staff.”
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) stressed “there has to be an absolute pure divestiture” and broke down what a compliant alternative would look like: “For me, it’s really important the source code, algorithm and data and servers are all completely separated from mainland China, from ByteDance.”
Moolenaar and Cammack were speaking at an event hosted by the TikTok Coalition, founded by former lobbyist and CEO of Iggy Ventures Rick Lane. About 20 people attended the event, which convened in a House meeting room.
TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.
The White House is seriously discussing the deal and has accelerated talks with Oracle ahead of President Donald Trump’s April 5 deadline for a sale, even as China hawks and legal experts say it would violate the law Congress passed last spring to force TikTok’s sale or ban in the U.S.
Lawmakers said Thursday they expect that latest tactic by TikTok to backfire, pointing to it as evidence of the app’s hold over its users — a would-be asset to a foreign rival like China.
“They’re running a massive PR campaign across the U.S. to sway public opinion and distract from the core issue: ongoing Chinese control of the app,” Moolenaar said.