Former Vice President Mike Pence is urging Congress and President Joe Biden to take action against Chinese Communist Party-controlled TikTok.
“Allowing TikTok to continue operating in the United States while under CCP control is simply unacceptable,” Pence wrote in an op-ed published by Fox News. “We would never have let Russia run the nightly news during the Cold War, and we certainly can’t let China do the same now. Allowing TikTok to continue to spew CCP-sanctioned propaganda poisoning the minds of American children is just wrong. Enough is enough.”
The op-ed from Pence comes as Congress is set to vote Wednesday on the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which will force TikTok’s parent company, Chinese-based ByteDance, to sell the company or face being banned in the United States.
TikTok, which is already under criminal investigation for allegedly spying on American citizens, steals users’ data from their phones — even if the user has never used the app — and continues to collect and transfer users’ data even if users delete the app, according to a report from ABC News.
Pence highlighted how the Trump-Pence administration took action against TikTok before Biden surrendered the fight after taking office and his campaign later joined the social media platform.
“Today, every politician likes to talk tough on China,” Pence wrote. “Unfortunately, too many politicians talk a big game but crack under the pressure of wealthy donors or personal grudges — including my former running mate. When lobbyists for a company controlled by the Chinese Communist Party can turn a former president against his own political legacy, we should all be concerned.”
His reference to lobbyists appears to be a swipe at former President Donald Trump for meeting with billionaire Jeff Yass, who has a $33 billion stake in ByteDance.
Trump led the charge to ban the app while he was president, but now says the country faces a “tough decision” over whether or not to ban TikTok. The shift came after a meet with Yass, although Trump claims that they did not discuss TikTok.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump posted on social media. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in last election, doing better. They are a true enemy of the people.”
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Other Republicans have more starkly flipped their positions on TikTok. For example, pharmaceutical executive Vivek Ramaswamy, who previously declared that TikTok was “digital fentanyl,” has now come out hard against banning the app.
Yass donated nearly $5 million to Ramaswamy’s Super PAC during the Republican Party presidential primary. Ramaswamy subsequently became the only GOP campaign that joined TikTok during the primary.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) also took a lot of criticism after he came out against banning TikTok. The New York Post reported that Yass has given $10 million to Paul since 2020.