Allies of former President Donald Trump harshly criticized President Joe Biden Wednesday for reversing Trump executive orders to ban TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps.
Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, along with Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, bashed the Biden administration for not supporting Trump’s attempt to ban the apps in the United States due to national security concerns.
Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and his former acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, also all chimed in against Biden’s decision as well.
Instead, Biden’s Commerce Department will conduct its own review of the apps to evaluate whether they are credible foreign threats “and take action, as appropriate,” according to a White House fact sheet.
Biden’s new order provides guidelines for identifying apps that could pose a significant risk to national security and consumer data privacy, such as apps that are controlled by people who support a foreign adversary military or are involved in the collection of sensitive personal data.
CHINESE OWNERS OF TIKTOK PUT OUT ANOTHER POPULAR APP THAT COULD CREATE CONCERNS
“This is a major mistake – shows alarming complacency regarding #China’s access to Americans’ personal information, as well as #China’s growing corporate influence,” Hawley said on Twitter.
A Senate bill led by Hawley to ban TikTok from government devices was included in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, a legislative package intended to help the U.S. outcompete China, that passed the Senate on Tuesday.
Biggs said on Twitter that Biden’s order was “another reversal of Trump’s efforts to protect American security. Appeasing China once again.”
TikTok came into the spotlight when Trump tried to ban the app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and pushed the parent company to sell the app, which it is attempting to do.
The U.S. government sees ByteDance as a data privacy and national security risk because of the Chinese government’s access to all data collected by technology companies in China.
“Joe Biden making it very clear: he has zero intention of holding China accountable. For anything,” said Meadows on Twitter after Biden’s decision was announced.
However, there were some Republicans who supported Biden’s new order.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I support the Biden administration’s efforts to mitigate the serious national security risks of Americans’ sensitive data from being accessed by foreign adversaries, like the #CCP,” said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, who is the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
