TikTok urges users to call Congress, stop ‘TikTok shutdown’

TikTok is messaging users urging them to call Congress and oppose a bill that could lead to a U.S. ban of the app, a spokesperson confirmed.  

The message warn users to “stop a TikTok shutdown” and that Congress is “planning a total ban of TikTok,” according to a notification seen by The Hill.  

The notification campaign is intended to drum up opposition to a bipartisan House bill unveiled Tuesday that would force ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, to divest the app or face a ban in the U.S.

The “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” is being marked up by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee during a meeting Thursday afternoon.

The bill was introduced by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the top lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party

Supporters of the bill said it is not an outright ban, since it offers a more than five months for ByteDance to divest TikTok.

However, TikTok has pushed back and characterized it as a ban.  

“This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it. This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs,” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek told The Hill. 

Haurek declined to comment further on the scope of the notifications being sent to users.  

The bill the House panel is debating Thursday is the latest effort to ban TikTok after failed efforts last year to explicitly ban the app or create a process to do so.

Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi’s proposal explicitly named ByteDance and TikTok as a foreign adversary controlled application that would face a ban, unless sold, while also laying out a process that would allow the president to designate other foreign adversary owned apps that pose national security concerns.  

The bill is quickly moving in the House. The House Energy and Commerce Committee scheduled a markup to vote on whether to advance the legislation for consideration by the full chamber soon after the bill was released.

Members met for a classified hearing Thursday morning about the bill after a request from the top Democrat on the committee.  

Ranking Member Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J) said he has “serious national security concerns about TikTok and am sympathetic to the intent of this legislation, but I want to hear from our witnesses before making a final decision,” in an opening statement before the committee reconvened in a classified meeting.  

“I must express my disappointment in how rushed this process has been. This Committee has worked together on a bipartisan basis on numerous occasions to advance legislation that furthers our national security interest, so Committee Democrats would have appreciated more notice and time to digest the legislation before us before it advances to a markup this afternoon,” he said.   

“There are very complex constitutional concerns implicated by this bill, and I think we all would have benefitted from a more thorough process that results from regular order. Nevertheless, I appreciate that Chair [Cathy McMorris] Rodgers [R-Wash.] agreed to my request to hold this hearing so members can hear from experts and review the proposals before jumping to a vote later today,” he said.  

Updated at 12:01 p.m.