WASHINGTON — One of Mike Gallagher’s last acts as a congressman was pushing through legislation to force the Chinese parent company of TikTok to sell the wildly popular social media platform by Jan. 19 or have TikTok be removed from app stores in the U.S.
Gallagher, who was then the chairman of the select committee on the Chinese Communist Party, argued the app poses a national security threat because of its Chinese ownership.
“I have no problem with continued dance videos or even political campaigning on TikTok, so long as the ownership structure changes,” Gallagher said in March. “The possibility of CCP interference and control of the algorithm is what we’re trying to address with this bill in practical ways for people that just use this app.”
Today, months after his departure from Capitol Hill, the issue is still being argued in court, as TikTok tries to stop the ban from taking effect.
TikTok, which has 170 million American users, says small businesses on the app “would lose more than $1 billion in revenue and creators would suffer almost $300 million in lost earnings in just one month unless the TikTok Ban is halted.”
“They are trying to circumvent the law,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. “The Court recently reaffirmed that’s constitutional, and I think it’s important that the law go into effect.”
Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan, replaced Gallagher as the committee’s chairman. He echoed Gallagher’s concerns about the app’s ownership and hopes President-elect Donald Trump will be able to negotiate with ByteDance to sell TikTok and keep it available in the U.S.
“My hope is that the U.S. Supreme Court would recognize Congress’s role, the President signing this into law, the lower court’s decision, and that we would have this law go into effect. And ultimately, the President then has the opportunity to negotiate. Right now, ByteDance has not been willing to really negotiate and to sell TikTok,” Moolenaar said. “I think with this deadline in place, that creates a great opportunity for a win-win situation.”
Moolenaar said Gallagher’s legacy lives on in more ways than just the TikTok legislation.
“He did a fantastic job setting up this select committee, building a team, working in a bipartisan way,” Moolenaar said. “He really set the tone.”
Gallagher worked closely with Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois. Moolenaar doesn’t see the bipartisan nature of the committee changing under Trump.
“One of the great things about it is, America is the strongest when we work together,” Moolenaar said. “And so, I think what you’ll see is Republicans and Democrats continuing to work towards advancing our national interest in working with like-minded countries to benefit the rule of law and world order that has been so helpful in our prosperity against the malign activities of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Moolenaar said he has big goals for the committee next year, and he plans to tap the national security, human rights and economic experts Gallagher assembled to advise the committee as he ushers it into a new Congress.
“We’re going to focus on making sure we aren’t funding the expansion of the People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese Communist Party. So, we’re going to look at how outbound investments affect that and actually work against us, and try and give guidance to the private sector so they know that there are some guardrails and we shouldn’t be investing in our own demise,” Moolenaar said. “We also want to make sure Americans’ health data is secure, and unfortunately, China is also getting very much involved in that.”
Moolenaar calls Gallagher a friend and said he continues to be available if he needs anything.