Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he plans to uphold the law around the TikTok ban in America.
Johnson on Sunday joined NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” where he weighed in on the overnight social media blackout during which the popular app was no longer accessible in the United States.
Host Kristen Welker asked him whether President-elect Trump overturning the ban would send a message to China.
“No, I think we will enforce the law,” Johnson replied. “And when President Trump issued the Truth post and said save TikTok, the way we read that is that he’s going to try to force along a true divestiture, changing of hands, the ownership.”
Overnight, Trump posted “Save TikTok” to his Truth Social platform. He signaled he may change the law once he’s in office.
While the law could still be changed, the underlying issue remains. The United States is concerned that TikTok is influenced by the Chinese Communist Party.
“It’s not the platform that members of Congress are concerned about,” Johnson said. “It’s the Chinese Communist Party.”
Welker asked why TikTok’s owner ByteDance had not sold to allow the app to continue operating in the U.S. and why, if they have yet to sell the app, Americans should have confidence the app will make a comeback.
“That’s the question. We don’t have any confidence in ByteDance,” Johnson said. “They have 270 days to be exact. The law is very precise, and the only way to extend that is there is an actual deal in the works.”
