Chairman Gallagher Floor Remarks in Support of H.R. 7521 - Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Applications Act

Click HERE to see Chairman Gallagher's floor remarks, as prepared for delivery, in support of H.R. 7521 - Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Applications Act 

TikTok is a threat to our national security because it is owned by ByteDance, which does the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party. We know this because ByteDance leadership says so, and because Chinese law requires it. 

This bill IS NOT about banning TikTok. It IS about forcing TikTok to break up with the Chinese Communist Party.

I also want to set the record straight on a few misconceptions about this bill:

• It DOES NOT apply to American companies. It ONLY applies to companies subject to the control of foreign adversaries defined by Congress.
• It says NOTHING about election interference and CANNOT be turned against any American social media platform.
• It DOES NOT impact websites in general. The ONLY impacted sites are those associated with foreign adversary apps, such as TikTok.com.
• It CAN NEVER be used to penalize individuals. The text EXPLICTLY prohibits that.
• IT CANNOT be used to censor speech. It takes no position at all on the CONTENT of speech, only foreign adversary control.

With the CCP tumor surgically removed from TikTok, Americans will be free to share whatever content they like—no matter how bad the dance moves may be. But instead of being fed whatever the opaque, CCP controlled algorithm dictates, it will be theirs alone.

I urge my colleagues to support this critical bipartisan legislation.