House China Committee Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) has two specific questions for TikTok’s new American owners, who are due to close on the sale of the Chinese app’s U.S. operations Thursday.
“Can we ensure that the algorithm is not influenced by the Chinese Communist Party?” Moolenaar said. “And two, can we ensure that the data of Americans is secure?”
Moolenaar was one of the foremost advocates of banning TikTok in the United States while it was under Chinese ownership. The Michigan Republican said timing is still in flux for his long-promised oversight of the TikTok deal.
Moolenaar made clear during a wide-ranging sitdown with Punchbowl News, however, that he’s committed to digging into the transaction that often put him and other China hawks in an awkward spot with President Donald Trump.
Ranking members, rare earths. Moolenaar will be particularly focused on the plan to copy Chinese owner ByteDance’s algorithm for the app and put it under the control of the new owners. Alongside the remaining minority ownership for Chinese interests, that’s been a key concern for hawks.
But Moolenaar will be without a crucial partner in his effort to dig into the TikTok deal, though.
That’s because Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the ranking member of the China panel who has been just as hawkish on TikTok and chips, is being replaced by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). Khanna has actually been one of the few — but loud — voices in support of TikTok and has opposed its ban.
The two lawmakers are more likely to agree on the need to disentangle the United States from the Chinese supply of critical minerals. Moolenaar recently cosponsored legislation on the issue and we’re told critical minerals is an area Khanna wants to make inroads.
Overall, we wanted to know if Moolenaar felt his hawkishness was out of fashion.
He insists hawks aren’t in the political wilderness, pointing to some serious wins in the National Defense Authorization Act that push back on certain Chinese biotech companies and curb some investment in China.
“Those are both very positive things that a lot of people didn’t think could get done,” Moolenaar said.
Moolenaar also said he doesn’t begrudge Trump’s work toward “some kind of a peaceful coexistence” with Beijing, given the intertwined economies and nuclear capabilities of the two superpowers.
“No one wants to have unnecessary provocation,” Moolenaar said. “However, if you believe that the freedoms that we enjoy are provoking a country who will retaliate for those freedoms, that’s a problem.”
