is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform.
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Less than two years ago, TikTok was a crisis situation on Capitol Hill. The chair of the House Select Committee on China called it “digital fentanyl” that brainwashes young Americans into supporting Hamas. A former national security adviser said letting TikTok remain in the US under its Chinese owner “would be akin to allowing Soviet control of several major American newspapers and TV channels during the Cold War.” Lawmakers left classified national security briefings about TikTok sharing grave concerns. All of it culminated in the surprise frenzy of a bipartisan bill forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban, which swiftly became law.
But nearly a year after the app should have been kicked out of the US, TikTok remains widely available, thanks to intervention from the administration of President Donald Trump. A promised acquisition by US investors, brokered through Trump, has been stalled for months. And the lawmakers who passed the ban are largely staying quiet.
Do you have information about the Trump administration’s deal to save TikTok in the US? Reach out to Lauren Feiner on Signal from a non-work device at laurenfeiner.64
The Verge reached out to nearly a dozen current and former lawmakers who voted for the bill and sat in key positions that ushered it into law, including the then-Chair of the House Select Committee on China Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). One provided comment for this story, and several did not respond to repeated requests. It’s unclear how most feel about the impact of their push to force a sale or ban of TikTok, or what they think of the deal Trump promises will finally bring TikTok — and the American tech providers it relies on — into compliance with the law.
There are extenuating circumstances, primarily the 43-day government shutdown that spun Congress into chaos this fall. In a statement to The Verge, Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) noted that there’s still a lot of unknowns about Trump’s deal. “Congress is still waiting to get briefed on how the TikTok sale would actually stop Chinese algorithms from causing harm to U.S. citizens, U.S. military, and U.S. interests,” she said. “The lack of transparency has caused concerns for both Democrats and Republicans who are still waiting for secure briefings on how to stop malign actions.”
Congress has spent the year putting up relatively little fuss as Trump repeatedly extended TikTok’s sales timeline
The Verge contacted representatives for Cantwell, Gallagher, Krishnamoorthi, House China Select Committee Chair John Moolenaar (R-MI), Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) , former House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ),Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-VA), and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). Of those, the sole comment came from Cantwell.
“The whole thing is a sham if the algorithm doesn’t move from out of Beijing’s hands”
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