Less than two years ago, TikTok was a crisis on Capitol Hill. The chairman of the House Select Committee on China called it “digital fentanyl” that inspires young Americans to support Hamas. A former national security adviser said that allowing TikTok to remain in the US under its Chinese owner would be “akin to allowing Soviet control of many major American newspapers and TV channels during the Cold War.” Lawmakers left a classified national security briefing about TikTok sharing serious concerns. It all culminated in the surprise frenzy of a bipartisan bill forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban, which quickly became law.
But nearly a year after the app was banned from the US, thanks to intervention from President Donald Trump’s administration, TikTok remains widely available. A promised takeover by US investors brokered by Trump has been stalled for months. And the lawmakers who passed the ban have remained largely silent.
Do you have information about the Trump administration’s agreement to save TikTok in the US? Contact Lauren Feiner on Signal from a non-working device at laurenfeiner.64
The Verge Contacted nearly a dozen current and former lawmakers who voted in favor of the bill and held key positions that signed it into law, including then-Chairman of the House Select Committee on China Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamurthy (D-IL). One provided comment for this story, and several did not respond to repeated requests. It’s not clear how most people feel about the sale of TikTok or the impact of his push to ban it, or what they think of the deal that Trump promised would finally bring TikTok — and the US tech providers on which it depends — into compliance with the law.
There are some extenuating circumstances, primarily the 43-day government shutdown that threw Congress into chaos this autumn. in a statement to The VergeSenate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said there are still a lot of unknowns about Trump’s deal. “Congress is still waiting to hear how the sale of TikTok will actually prevent Chinese algorithms from harming American citizens, the American military, and American interests,” he said. “The lack of transparency has created concerns for both Democrats and Republicans who are still waiting for the secure briefing on how to prevent malicious actions.”
Congress spent the year with relatively little uproar as Trump repeatedly extended the deadline for TikTok’s sale
Still, the fact remains that after months of panic over TikTok’s alleged dangers, Congress has spent the year with relatively little fuss as Trump repeatedly extended TikTok’s sale timeline in clear violation of divestment-or-ban law. (Former President Joe Biden also tried to avoid enforcing a law he signed; the deadline expired on his last day in office, but he foisted it on Trump.) Ignoring an order to ban a popular app might cause less obvious harm than shrinking the federal workforce, reducing birthright citizenship, and generally overstepping the bounds of presidential power. But the TikTok saga represents one of the clearest examples of how readily Trump is ignoring the law — in this case, passed by more than 400 federal lawmakers and unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court. This also shows how uncomfortable the MPs seem to stand against him.
The Verge Cantwell, Gallagher, Krishnamurthy, House China Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI), Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX), former House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner. (D-VA), and Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO). The only comment among those came from Cantwell.
“If the algorithm doesn’t get out of Beijing’s hands the whole thing is a sham”
During previous extensions of the ban’s deadline, some lawmakers, including Republicans, have issued muted statements about the importance of enforcing it, often without criticizing the Trump administration’s open disregard for his law. Around the president’s second super-legal extension in April, many Republicans spoke in a tough tone about the need for a deal that would comply with the law, but did not directly call for Trump’s extension. Hawley told reporters that he would “advise the President against a deal” that does not comply with the law, and that if it is not possible through a sale, he should “enforce the law and ban TikTok. This middle ground, I don’t think is viable.” Democrat Warner told The Verge After Trump’s second extension, “If the algorithm doesn’t get out of Beijing’s hands the whole thing is a sham.”
After Trump issued his executive order in September laying out how he wanted to rescue TikTok, Moolenaar, the current China Committee chair, promised to conduct a “full oversight” of the Trump-brokered agreement, “beginning with an immediate briefing as I have requested from the administration.” Moolenaar also said he wants to invite the leaders of the new TikTok entity to testify before his committee next year.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has claimed that TikTok is finally on the verge of a sale. Here’s what we know so far about the deal from the executive order and reporting from various outlets:
- TikTok’s US operations will be spun off into an entity valued at $14 billion, although analysts had previously estimated it could be worth closer to $50 billion.
- Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX will control about 45 percent of the US unit, according to the filing. cnbcByteDance holds a 19.9 percent stake and 35 percent is controlled by ByteDance investors and new holders.
- TikTok will be “majority owned and controlled” by US-based companies.
- The US-based operations will get a new board of directors.
- Users may or may not be required to download a new app controlled by US interests.
- The US-based venture will operate the recommendation algorithms, code and content moderation behind TikTok, based on algorithms licensed from ByteDance.
It is still unclear whether China will allow ByteDance to sell TikTok. Trump has said President Xi Jinping has generally agreed, but there was little sign of progress after the two leaders met in late October.
Even if China accepts the deal, it is not clear that the agreement meets legal requirements for divestment. Licensing the TikTok algorithm could potentially constitute an ongoing operating relationship between the US entity and ByteDance, which is expressly prohibited by law.
After Trump announced the deal, Moolenaar said he had concerns about licensing the algorithms. “I think any time you have (China) dominance over algorithms, I think that’s a problem,” Moolenaar said. reuters“I just assume you have to have a new algorithm, and I don’t know that you can reprogram,” But, he said, he is waiting for more details from the White House,
Moolenaar and hundreds of his colleagues moved more quickly last year to pass a TikTok bill than Congress ever would. Those lawmakers declared how important it is to remove Chinese ownership of TikTok. But the result, at this point, looks like a sweetheart deal to sell TikTok to one of the president’s closest allies, possibly without even severing all of the app’s ties with China. In the process, Trump has demonstrated a willingness to ignore the will of Congress, and Congress, in turn, has demonstrated its unwillingness to fight.