Republicans Demand Documents From CFIUS TikTok Review
Lawmakers are again expressing concern about the U.S. national security review of TikTok (see 2211230033), saying they fear the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. will allow the app to continue operating in the U.S. without divesting itself from its Chinese owner Bytedance.
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A draft agreement between CFIUS and the company “does not appear” to require Bytedance “and by extension [Chinese Communist Party] authorities, to give up control of its algorithm,” Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said in a Dec. 20 letter to multiple U.S. agencies, including the Treasury Department. “There is a deeply concerning possibility that CFIUS may approve an agreement that would allow” China to retain significant influence over TikTok and control of its core technology.”
If this happens, China can use TikTok “to suppress or amplify content according to CCP preferences or PRC laws,” the Republicans said. “Allowing PRC authorities to continue to collect sensitive data, compromise security, and influence the views of tens of millions of Americans represents a grave failure to protect our democracy.”
McCaul and Rogers asked for the agencies to provide “all documents and communications referring or relating to CFIUS’s review of TikTok” by Dec. 30. That includes all of the committee’s “covered transaction analyses,” “national security threat assessments” and any proposed mitigation agreement. Treasury and the White House didn’t comment.
The administration and TikTok in September reportedly drafted a preliminary agreement to resolve national security concerns raised by ByteDance (see 2209260008), which could ultimately involve a mitigation agreement overseen by CFIUS (see 2211150009).