H.R. 7521, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — which passed in the Republican-controlled House on Wednesday — is not a blanket ban on TikTok per se, Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) said during an interview on Breitbart News Daily, explaining that the legislation actually offers an ultimatum, forcing TikTok to divest from China or face expulsion from the United States.
The House passed the legislation on bipartisan grounds Wednesday; 15 Republicans voted against the bill along with 50 Democrats.
Pfluger explained that lawmakers are not immediately seeking a blanket ban on TikTok, but looking for an alternative, requiring TikTok to divest from the parent company, ByteDance — which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — and sell to a company in a friendly nation.
The ByteDance logo is seen on a building in Beijing on July 8, 2020. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
“It is not a ban at all. It is actually a divestment from a Chinese Communist Party-controlled entity called ByteDance. And so I hope that TikTok as a platform can remain,” the congressman said. “I hope that Americans can continue to use it.”
However, Pfluger said it is crucial to realize that this company is headquartered in mainland China, and the reality that it is possible for the CCP “to use their influence on the messaging and narrative and output.”
Specifically, Pfluger said the legislation requires TikTok to divest itself “from the parent company ByteDance, to divest itself from an adversarial nation and sell to a friendly company in a friendly nation.”
“And it also includes not just the China, Chinese Communist Party issue, but it also includes countries like Iran and North Korea and Russia as adversarial countries who definitely have shown and demonstrated a will to undermine American interests everywhere around the world,” he said, explaining that Congress is simply drawing a line in the sand.
“We want them to sell to a company — any company here in the United States that can make sure that they would protect the privacy, the data,” he continued.
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Only if TikTok refuses to sell and divest from the CCP would it be banned in the United States, the congressman continued.
“Lawmakers are acknowledging, ‘Here’s a path.’ So why would they sell it? Because it’s in their economic interest to do so, because it’s the future of that company. Because we know that many people do use it. And we’re not saying that you shouldn’t be able to, but this is the first step when it comes to Congress looking at the privacy of every American,” Pfluger continued, broadening the scope by warning of the dangers of another adversarial country controlling any industry.
“And certainly, when you think about another country being able to shape the narrative on anything, think about any industry they don’t like — fossil fuels in my district, elections throughout the United States and other countries. We have to protect Americans and protect them from a nefarious actor which we know wants to undermine them,” he said, also addressing the critiques of parents who believe it is up to them to decide if their children use TikTok.
“I have children of my own and we don’t allow TikTok in my home, and we also have other restrictions on other social media platforms. However, the national security threat that we see from this particular platform because of its ties to the CCP, are so egregious and are right here in our face,” he said, describing the app as a “Trojan horse that we ought to — we have to be aware of.”
“So it goes beyond the parent thing. It’s not just the parents we’re worried about. It’s the service member that just called that we’re also worried about,” he said, reiterating that this “isn’t about conservatives being on TikTok,” but it is about “the ability of a company that is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party to shape a narrative that could be for or against any issue.”
“But they can dial it up, heat up the message and cool it off. We want TikTok as a platform to continue,” he said. “We just want it to be controlled by somebody other than the Chinese Communist Party.”
“This is not a ban,” the Texas congressman emphasized. “This is forcing a divestment from a very, very dangerous company, and I hope that they make the right decision.”
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