Will Trump’s newfound opposition to TikTok ban sway Republicans? Not Iowa’s Ashley Hinson

The U.S. House was set to vote Wednesday on a bill that could effectively ban TikTok from Americans' smartphones.

Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson is co-leading legislation to force the Chinese owners of the popular social media platform to divest its U.S. subsidiary or face a ban.

  Buy Photo

The bill would prevent app store availability or web-hosting services in the U.S. for applications, like TikTok, unless the application severs ties to entities like ByteDance that are subject to the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The bill would also give the president the authority to deny other social media apps owned and operated by foreign adversaries access to U.S. users unless they sever ties to their foreign owners.

Hinson and backers said the goal is not a ban but a forced divestiture by ByteDance because of concerns that top Chinese government officials have access to American users' data and could use such access to manipulate TikTok’s algorithm to sow divisiveness and discord, poison U.S. public opinion and suppress content critical of Beijing, as well as compromise the cellphones of millions of American users.

“TikTok just needs to cut ties with CCP or they will lose American users,” said Hinson, who sits on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party that originated the bill.

TikTok has about 170 million American users.

ByteDance Technology is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Beijing. It is operating in the United States through a holding company, ByteDance Ltd., the parent company of TikTok.

Trump opposition

The legislation was moving forward Tuesday, despite opposition by former President Donald Trump.

Trump — who tried to ban TikTok as president — posted on Truth Social that getting rid of TikTok would only help Facebook, which he called a “true Enemy of the People!”

The presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee launched Truth Social to rival Facebook and Twitter after Trump was banned from the sites. Trump personally could potentially profit if the company goes public as planned this year, CQ-Roll Call reported.

Trump also recently met with billionaire hedge fund investor Jeff Yass, whose fund has a more than a $30 billion stake in TikTok parent ByteDance, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Asked by CNBC Monday if he had changed his views on TikTok after meeting with Yass, Trump said TikTok never came up during their meeting.

Asked about Trump’s opposition, Hinson said her mind is made up on the bill, which she said has bipartisan support in Congress.

“I don’t think any outside influence is going to change my mind here,” she said. “And if TikTok does not cut ties with the CCP, it should not be able to operate in the U.S., plain and simple. This is a national security issue.”

Lawmakers on Tuesday received a classified briefing with U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials that lawmakers said led them to fast-track the measure.

“I saw many dozen other members of Congress on both sides of the aisle at that meeting, and I think there is going to be a big bipartisan vote on this bill,” Hinson said. “And, at least in my mind, it has flagged a very important discussion about the role social media is playing in our country right now and the damaging impact it has on our kids. I think that is a larger conversation we need to have after we first make sure we get TikTok to divest ties from the CCP.”

TikTok alerts users

Some free-speech advocates say the measure violates First Amendment protections.

But backers contend the bill is an appropriate step to protect America’s national security interests, and only applies to applications controlled by a foreign adversary.

Iowa’s members of Congress received numerous calls last Thursday from TikTok users who were prompted by the app to call their representatives in response to the House legislation targeting the social media platform.

The aggressive move by the wildly popular social media app came the same day the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously passed the bill that would ban TikTok from U.S. app stores unless its Chinese parent company sells the app.

President Joe Biden said Friday he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

TikTok users on Thursday were greeted with a message warning that Congress is planning “a total ban of TikTok,” and prompting them to call their congressional representative.

At one point Thursday, Hinson was personally answering phones and explaining to callers the intent of the bill.

“It was nonstop,” Hinson told reporters Tuesday. “ … We were getting a barrage of phone calls.”

The Marion Republican accused TikTok of lying to and manipulating its users, many of whom are U.S. youth.

“It is so unacceptable. And TikTok’s disregard to kid’s mental health was really on full display,” Hinson said. “And, quite frankly, they proved our point for us.”

Hinson asked what if TikTok had taken the same tactic ahead of a U.S. election, falsely saying polls were closed on Election Day

“Or whatever message the CCP wanted them to disseminate to their captive American audience,” she said.

Hinson said she’s also fielded calls from parents “ticked off at TikTok.”

“This is about protecting our kids,” she said. “You want to infuriate parents across the country, feed their kids a lie and manipulate them as a political pawn.”

Caleb McCullough of The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com