U.S. Lawmakers Demand Hearings On TikTok’s Threat To U.S. Security As Congress Weighs Ban

On January 11, Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, pressed the Committee for a hearing on TikTok because of “persistent privacy issues, national security concerns, and troubling influence” over American children. Senator Sullivan sent a public letter to senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the chairwoman of the committee, and the committee’s ranking member, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), addressing the request.

 In his letter, Senator Sullivan said that many of the concerns with TikTok raised by members from both sides have been validated since the last hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee on October 26, 2021. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner recently agreed that former President Trump was right about the need to ban the application in the U.S., citing the troubling influence that communist China could exert over American children. Most recently, Congress took an important step in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 to ban the application from all federal government devices. Many states, including Alaska, have also banned the application on state government devices. However, more needs to be done. He urged the Senate Committee to hold a hearing on the risks Americans, especially American children, face using this platform.

 In response, Senator Cruz said, “TikTok’s malfeasance and record of suspicious activity are mounting. We absolutely should hold a hearing forcing them to answer hard questions under oath. Since their last appearance before Congress, concerns about TikTok — their privacy policies, their ties to China and the CCP, the way the CCP uses the app to spy on everyone from dissidents to journalists, and the app’s mental health impacts — have only grown.”