House Passes Moolenaar Supported Bill to Stop Foreign Adversaries From Owning Social Media Apps

Congressman John Moolenaar, a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, voted in favor of H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The bill requires foreign adversaries (the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, North Korea, and Iran) to sell social media apps they control that are operating in the United States and which pose a threat to national security. This includes TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, a company based in China.

“TikTok is owned by the Chinese Communist Party and we cannot allow the CCP to indoctrinate our children. This strong bipartisan legislation is an important step forward in making sure social media apps owned by foreign adversaries are prohibited from doing business in America. I am proud to support this bill to protect national security, and the Senate should pass it immediately," said Moolenaar. "I also encourage Americans using TikTok to strongly consider the personal risks of having their data owned by the Chinese Communist Party and hope they will stop using the app as this bipartisan legislation moves forward.”

Moolenaar is an original co-sponsor of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which passed the House of Representatives today by a vote of 352 to 65, with one member voting present.  

In response to a misinformation campaign started by TikTok, Moolenaar authored an op-ed in The Detroit News to explain the legislation. The text of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act can be found here, and a summary of the bill can be found here.