A House bill passed this week concerning TikTok wasn’t explicitly about banning the company in the United States, but instead focuses on compelling the social media giant to separate from ByteDance, its China-linked parent company, Rep. Tim Walberg, a member of one of the committees working on the bill, told Newsmax Saturday.
“We believe in the free market,” the Michigan Republican said on Newsmax’s “America Right Now.” “We believe in capitalism; we believe in choices. But we also believe as members of Congress that we are responsible for protecting our country and its constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
TikTok, he added, “has become an enemy because of its close ties with its parent company and that firm’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.”
“It is very clear that any company that does business in America from China has to give its loyal observance to the Chinese Communist Party and report all information that they gather and all intelligence they gather,” said Walberg.
It will be TikTok’s choice about being allowed to remain in the United States if the law is signed, he said.
“If they choose to stay with ByteDance, then there will be a ban of that app,” said Walberg. “If they don’t, [it will be] available.”
President Joe Biden has said he will sign the bill into law if it passes the Senate and reaches his desk.
Some in the Senate, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Tenn., say the law would pose First Amendment issues. Walberg disagreed, saying work has been done on the bill to remove that issue.
He noted that when former President Donald Trump was in office, he tried twice to find a way to ban TikTok, but the moves failed in the courts because of the First Amendment question.
“As we worked very clearly to draft this legislation, we wanted to make sure that it passed muster relative to the First Amendment — frankly, because we believe in the First Amendment, but we wanted it to hold up in the courts as well,” he said.
He also rejected comments from TikTok CEO Shou Chew, who said earlier this week that the company has invested to keep data safe and its platform free from outside manipulation.
“This is the same gentleman who lied to me under direct questioning in our committee hearing a year ago when I asked him if any of the data was housed in China,” said Walberg. “This is the same guy that’s trying to prevaricate with the public right now that we are trying to do away with business operations and individual personal operations with TikTok when, in fact, that’s not the case.”
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