EXCLUSIVE â A
Republican
senator is calling for a hearing on
TikTok
and its associated “persistent privacy issues, national security concerns, and troubling influence” over children as lawmakers continue to crack down on the Chinese-government-linked app.
President Joe Biden
approved a TikTok ban in December for government devices, which, as a policy, has been mirrored in over one dozen states, and Congress is eyeing legislation that would
ban
the app in the United States. Now, over one year
after
the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on TikTok and its risks, Sen.
Dan Sullivan
(R-AK) is pressing his colleagues for a swift follow-up,
according to a letter
obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“In 2020, former President Trump tried to ban the application in the U.S,” Sullivan wrote on Wednesday to Sen.
Maria Cantwell
(D-WA), chairwoman of the committee, as well as Sen.
Ted Cruz
(R-TX), the committee’s ranking member. “Now, there is a growing bipartisan recognition of the problem and momentum for further congressional scrutiny.”
OPEN INVITATION: TIKTOK LOBBYISTS REPEATEDLY SCORED VISITS TO BIDEN WHITE HOUSE, RECORDS REVEAL
TikTok, which generated roughly $4 billion in revenue in 2021, has continued to be scrutinized by
national security
experts. This is particularly because TikTok’s parent company is ByteDance, a Chinese technology company that owes at least 1% of its stake to China’s government.
In December 2022,
multiple reports surfaced
about ByteDance admitting to spying on American journalists. Those reports
followed
a Forbes article in October 2022, based on internal
ByteDance
documents, that indicated the company’s Internal Audit and Risk Control team planned to use TikTok to track the personal locations of American users.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.,
which
examines foreign acquisitions of U.S. firms under the Treasury Department,
opened
a national security review of TikTok in 2019. The CFIUS review began following lawmakers raising concerns over reports that the app instructed moderators to censor content.
“TikTokâs malfeasance and record of suspicious activity are mounting,” Cruz told the Washington Examiner. “We absolutely should hold a hearing forcing them to answer hard questions under oath. Since their last appearance before Congress, concerns about TikTok â their privacy policies, their ties to China and the CCP, the way the CCP uses the app to spy on everyone from dissidents to journalists, and the appâs mental health impacts â have only grown.”
“I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Commerce Committee to shine a light on TikTokâs actions and hold them accountable,” Cruz added.
Sullivan’s letter cites how
FBI
Director Christopher Wray
told
members of the House Homeland Security Committee in November 2022 that the bureau is “extremely concerned” about TikTok and its U.S. operations. The Chinese Communist Party may have the ability to use TikTok in order to obtain data on millions of users, compromise devices, and manipulate algorithms to influence children, Wray said in the hearing.
In December 2022, Sullivan voted in
favor
of the TikTok ban affecting roughly 4 million government devices. The same month, Sen.
Marco Rubio
(R-FL), Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) put forth a bipartisan bill that would ban the app from the U.S.
The Washington Examiner reported on Monday that
TikTok and ByteDance lobbyists have visited the White House at least eight times
between July 2021 and August 2022. That lobbying army includes former members of Congress and former congressional staffers who are both Democrats and Republicans.
“We would welcome the opportunity to brief Sen. Sullivan on our comprehensive plans to address the very concerns his letter raises about TikTok,” Brooke Oberwetter, a spokeswoman for TikTok, told the Washington Examiner. “We believe those concerns can be fully resolved, and CFIUS is currently considering a comprehensive solution that addresses key issues of corporate governance, content recommendation and moderation, and data security and access.”
“We are not waiting for an agreement to be in place, however, and have made substantial progress on implementing that solution over the past year,” she added. “We look forward to completing that work to put these concerns to rest.”
The October 2021 hearing Sullivan references in his letter was titled “Protecting Kids Online: Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.” One witness was Michael Beckerman, head of public policy for TikTok U.S. He claimed that the app “does not share information with the Chinese government.”
Sen.
Marsha Blackburn
(R-TN) pressed the executive on the fact that China’s government has a stake in ByteDance â which Beckerman denied.
“In light of these renewed bipartisan concerns, and the repeated misrepresentations by TikTok regarding data security and its privacy practices, I urge you to hold a hearing on the risks that Americans, especially our children, face using this platform,” wrote Sullivan in his letter. “The American people need to understand the ramifications of using this application.
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“Such a hearing would serve as a crucial public forum to gather information as Congress and other policymakers consider this important issue,” he added.
Cantwell’s office did not reply to a request for comment.
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