Dozens of Republican lawmakers are expected to defy Donald Trump and vote for legislation that would force the Chinese company that owns TikTok to sell the platform or risk it being banned in the United States when it appears before the House of Representatives, which is currently scheduled for Wednesday.
The bipartisan bill introduced by members of the House Select Committee would also give the executive branch powers to target social media companies deemed to be under the control of a “foreign adversary.”
TikTok, one of the most popular social media sites in the U.S., is owned by the Beijing-based company ByteDance. Some security experts fear the Chinese state could use its relationship with ByteDance to view the private data of American users, though the company insists a “US-based security team” controls access.
On Thursday, Trump, the overwhelming favorite for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination following a string of primary victories on March 5, spoke out against a TikTok ban in a post on his Truth Social website.
Taking aim at Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg he wrote: “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”
Despite Trump’s opposition, Politico reported on Tuesday that it is “all but certain” the legislation will pass the Republican-controlled House with at least a two-thirds majority. As the GOP currently has 219 House members versus 213 Democrats, this would mean dozens of Republicans rebelling against Trump and voting for the legislation.
Newsweek reached out to Donald Trump’s representatives via email and will update this article if they wish to comment.
However, it is less clear what will happen in the Democratic controlled Senate, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer telling reporters on Monday he would “talk to my committee chairs” before deciding what to do with the legislation.
A TikTok spokesperson told Newsweek that the bill amounts to “an outright ban of TikTok no matter how much the authors try to disguise it” and claimed this would be a violation of the First Amendment.
In August 2020, then-President Trump issued an executive order instructing ByteDance to sell its U.S. assets and destroy any related data within 90 days, though this was blocked by legal action.
His order warned ByteDance “might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.”
A number of conservative commentators and lawmakers have reacted with anger to Trump’s U-turn on the issue.
Chip Somodevilla/GETTY
Fox News host Laura Ingraham posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday: “This is a big mistake by the Trump campaign: Trump claims TikTok ban would only help ‘enemy’ Facebook.”
Speaking to HuffPost, Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, commented: “I’m not a fan of Facebook but TikTok is a qualitatively different deal. It’s a backdoor for the Communist Chinese party.”
Steve Bannon, formerly Trump’s White House chief strategist, shared an article by Axios on Gettr about the former president’s change of heart over TikTok adding “Simple: Yass Coin.”
This refers to a recent meeting between Trump and conservative hedge fund manager Jeff Yass, who has a $33 billion stake in TikTok. Newsweek has not seen any evidence that Trump’s meeting with Yass and his stance on TikTok is connected.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.