Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, raised concerns Wednesday about the ongoing reliance of a potential TikTok spinoff on an algorithm from its China-based parent company as the Trump administration nears a deal on the app.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Monday that the U.S. had a “framework” for an agreement on TikTok following trade talks with China. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to speak Friday to complete the deal, Bessent said.
The popular video-sharing platform has remained in limbo for months, as Trump has repeatedly delayed enforcement of a law requiring TikTok parent ByteDance to divest from the app or a face a ban on U.S. networks and app stores.
Moolenaar said Wednesday that Congress enacted the law on an “overwhelming bipartisan basis” because of national security concerns about China’s ability to collect American user data and potentially manipulate their feeds.
Lawmakers “set clear legal safeguards for a deal,” he noted, which barred cooperation with ByteDance on TikTok’s algorithm or an ongoing operational relationship between the app and its parent company.
“Based on initial reports, I am concerned the reported licensing deal may involve ongoing reliance by the new TikTok on a ByteDance algorithm and application that could allow continued CCP control or influence,” Moolenaar said in a statement.
“I look forward to receiving full details on the deal and discussing these issues with the transaction parties to ensure any deal adheres to the law’s legal requirements,” he continued.
The deputy head of China’s cyber regulator has suggested that the TikTok deal includes “licensing the algorithm and other intellectual property rights,” according to the Financial Times.
Specific details about the deal have yet to be disclosed, although several outlets have reported that Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz are part of a group of investors poised to own a new U.S. entity that would operate TikTok.
