Suburban congressman who pushed for forced sale of TikTok applauds Supreme Court’s decision
Among the strongest voices in Congress echoing the FBI’s warnings about TikTok’s danger to national security, Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg applauded the Supreme Court’s Friday decision to uphold an imminent ban if the platform isn’t sold.
He said he suspected Chinese company ByteDance itself to be responsible for much of the misinformation and confusion that characterized earlier debate over the issue.
“When nine Supreme Court justices come to the exact same conclusion, that’s significant and I hope people take notice,” Krishnamoorthi said. “This is every judge from every part of the ideological spectrum.”
Likewise, he said there’s nothing fragile about such a Supreme Court decision.
ByteDance’s only option for the app to continue in the U.S. is to sell it to a firm that is not under the control of a foreign adversary like the Chinese Communist Party.
And Krishnamoorthi said he would have no objections to TikTok continuing under that scenario.
“Let’s get on with it instead of playing chicken,” he added.
Considering the range of data on Americans’ financial records, locations, and even mindsets that the Chinese Communist Party has had access to through TikTok and ByteDance, Krishnamoorthi said a more limited ban on use wouldn’t have been effective.
“There’s no other way to deal with this issue than the way we dealt with it,” he said.
Krishnamoorthi has been a member of a House committee that studies issues involving the Chinese Communist Party. He coauthored the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which he said was approved by wide bipartisan majorities following its unanimous vote in committee.
“Two successive presidents have now sought to address the grave national security harms posed by ByteDance ownership,” Krishnamoorthi said.
Much has been reported recently of TikTok users switching over to the similar app called RedNote. But Krishnamoorthi said he is not as familiar with it as other apps, and that it should fall to the incoming Trump administration to study it further.