Johnson Votes YES, Calling on TikTok to Divest From the Chinese Communist Party

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) voted to pass legislation requiring TikTok to divest from ByteDance, which answers to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or risk losing access to American markets. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would remove CCP-backed ByteDance apps, including TikTok, from American app stores and web hosting services unless the application severs ties to entities like ByteDance that are subject to control of a foreign adversary.

“TikTok has an important decision to make: remain beholden to the Chinese Communist Party, or retain their user base in America,” said Johnson. “The decision should be simple, yet TikTok’s pushback to the bill gives credence to the thought the platform cares more about the influence of the CCP than operating a safe app in the U.S. I hope the Senate considers the bill soon. In the meantime, millions of Americans will continue to be influenced by the destructive goals of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Johnson recently co-sponsored the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Johnson has long been a critic of TikTok and ByteDance. In 2022, he introduced the Block the Tok Act to remove TikTok from federal government devices. Later that year, he voted to ban it on federal government devices.