Will the White House Balk or Succeed in Yanking TikTok From China? – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

Vice President JD Vance announced Thursday that the White House is on the brink of a deal over the ownership of TikTok. Under a deadline set by President Donald Trump, TikTok must be either sold to a U.S. company by Saturday, or it will be banned. (Trump has suggested the deadline could be extended if a deal is in progress.)

The major question is: Will the White House’s deal entirely remove Chinese control of the app?

There has been some reporting that Trump and Vance are considering a deal that would maintain a role for ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, and give the software giant Oracle some ownership of the app. Such a deal would technically violate the terms of the 2024 law requiring a ban or total U.S. control. (RELATED: Is China Weaponizing Christianity to Divide America?)

Some Republicans have been oddly quiet on the subject of removing Chinese control from TikTok since January. The reluctance makes sense given that millions of Americans use TikTok for hours a day. Taking away people’s favorite drug usually doesn’t prove to be popular. In fact, the Pew Research Center said in late March that only 39 percent of Republicans and 30 percent of Democrats support a TikTok ban.

Democrats have likewise shifted their stance as TikTok addicts have, essentially, freaked out over the possibility of the app’s discontinuance.

For example, Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Cory Booker of New Jersey — who all voted for the original law requiring TikTok to be banned or sold — have become fierce advocates for an extension of the law’s deadline to ensure the app’s continuation. The three sent a letter to Trump last month urging him to work with Congress to keep the app online while a sale is worked out.

But there are those Republicans who have remained steadfast in insisting that TikTok needs to be wrested from Chinese control.

One of those Republicans is Sen. Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. According to the New York Post, Cotton has “made it clear” to the Trump administration that he will oppose any deal that involves continued Chinese control of TikTok. (RELATED: TikTok Ban Necessary to Thwart CCP)

Cotton has repeatedly insisted that the Chinese utilize TikTok as a national security tool to hurt America. That’s in line with the dramatic statement Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal made following a classified briefing on TikTok: “TikTok is a gun aimed at Americans’ heads.”

In a book Cotton published in February, he wrote, “No social-media app has harmed our kids more than TikTok,” adding, “If your kid uses TikTok, I urge you to stop reading now and immediately delete the account.”

Last week, several other Republican lawmakers came forward to oppose the rumored deal that maintains a role for ByteDance.

“I’m here to make one thing clear: any deal that allows ByteDance to maintain control of TikTok is a grave threat to our security and a violation of U.S. law,” said Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China.

Rep. Kat Cammack, a Republican from Florida, additionally stated, “[T]here has to be an absolute pure divestiture.”

For others, protecting children is the primary concern when it comes to TikTok. Based on data showing just how much American children use the Chinese app, millions of American children are enthralled by it.

On Wednesday, the American Parents Coalition, a group that advocates for parental authority, sent a letter to Vance — who has been charged with making a deal on TikTok — urging him to ensure that the app “has no connection” to China going forward.

The organization additionally sent a mobile billboard to the White House on Thursday to send the message that China is seeking to use the app to harm American children. The mobile billboard displayed the message: “41 percent of U.S. kids spend 120 mins on TikTok daily.” The billboard also noted that TikTok has been found to recommend self-harm content within two minutes of a teenager creating an account.

The American Parents Coalition’s executive director, Alleigh Marré, told The American Spectator, “We should not be giving the keys to our kids’ brains to an adversary.”

TikTok has been known to show accounts registered to children sexualized content, including sexual violence and sexual role-playing, and content promoting drugs — including cocaine and methamphetamine. It has also been associated with promoting transgender and nonbinary identities to children, including telling minors how to access transgender medical treatments.

These harms, Marré told The American Spectator, show that the algorithm is “manipulated” to “show content that is damaging.”

Marré explained that, were the app to transfer to American ownership, it would be “just a different conversation” in that TikTok would no longer be feeding children “content that is coming out of a China pipeline.”

Whether China is able to retain some control of TikTok in the White House’s deal will have major implications simply given the amount of time that Americans spend glued to the app.

China has been shown to change American attitudes via TikTok on a variety of issues, as Americans who spent time on TikTok view China’s human rights record more positively. Additionally, there was a swell in support for Hamas, seemingly as a result of TikTok’s algorithm. Even with only limited control, China would likely remain committed to using the app to undermine U.S. national security — and the sanity of the American public.

TikTok has been clear that the Chinese government will block any deal that wrests away control of the app’s algorithm. And, given ByteDance’s massive public relations campaign to preserve ownership, the Chinese government is extremely reluctant to let TikTok go.

We will find out soon whether that Chinese control will be stripped away.

READ MORE from Ellie Gardey Holmes:

Gavin Goes ‘Soul-Searching’

Can Casey DeSantis Win Florida’s Governorship?

What Does Someone Like Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò Do When DEI Dies?