House Committee Approves Support for TikTok Ban Defense

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee voted Thursday, July 11, to provide the Justice Department with a transcript from a closed-door hearing centered on the threats posed by TikTok.

This disclosure is intended to aid the Justice Department in defending a law that mandates TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, based in China, to sell its U.S. operations. The transcript will only be made available to the Justice Department, and there are no plans to release it publicly.

The Justice Department requested access to the transcript, suggesting it would be instrumental in ongoing litigation.

An unclassified document prepared for a classified March hearing highlighted security concerns associated with TikTok. The document indicated that TikTok gathers vast quantities of data, potentially putting American users at risk. It stated that, “Working through ByteDance, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) could use TikTok to access data on millions of U.S. users and control the software on millions of U.S. devices.”

On May 7, TikTok and ByteDance filed a lawsuit seeking judicial review of the constitutionality of the law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. business or face a shutdown. The companies argued, “That law — the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (‘the Act’) — is unconstitutional.” They contended that banning TikTok is clearly unconstitutional, and that even the Act’s proponents attempted to frame it as a regulation of TikTok’s ownership rather than a ban.

President Joe Biden signed the law on April 24, following its passage by both the House and Senate. Supporters of the bill argue that the threat of a ban is essential for addressing national security concerns.

Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, remarked on the Senate floor on April 23, “Congress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok, or any other individual company. Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.”