East Michigan News

Chairman John Moolenaar and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party have addressed letters to the CEOs of TikTok, Apple, and Google. This follows a decision by the DC Circuit Court that upheld the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

In their communication to TikTok CEO Shou Chew, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi stated, “The Court held that ‘[t]he First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.[,]’ and rejected all of TikTok’s constitutional claims… Congress has acted decisively to defend the national security of the United States and protect TikTok’s American users from the Chinese Communist Party. We urge TikTok to immediately execute a qualified divestiture.”

In similar letters sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, they noted, “Today, we sent a letter to TikTok highlighting that Congress has provided ample time—233 days and counting—for the company to take the necessary steps to comply with the law and pursue a divestment that protects U.S. national security.”

The lawmakers emphasized that without a qualified divestiture, "the Act makes it unlawful to ‘[p]rovid[e] services to distribute, maintain, or update such foreign adversary controlled application (including any source code of such application) by means of a marketplace (including an online mobile application store) through which users within the land or maritime borders of the United States may access, maintain, or update such application.’ Under U.S. law," they asserted that "[Apple and Google] must take the necessary steps to ensure it can fully comply with this requirement by January 19, 2025."

Copies of these letters are available for public viewing.