Deluzio Statement on His Vote to Protect Americans from Surveillance by the Chinese Communist Party, Force Divestiture by ByteDance

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) released the following statement after the House passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act on a bipartisan vote of 352 to 65. The bill, which Rep. Deluzio co-sponsored, requires divestiture by Communist China’s ByteDance and the sale of TikTok to protect American civil liberties and national security. 

“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has unacceptable influence and control over ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok. A lot of Americans and parents, like me, believe that the CCP should not be able to conduct mass surveillance on the American people, tell our kids what to watch online, or push propaganda through social media platforms. 

“We’ve already seen ByteDance in recent weeks push lies friendly to their Beijing bosses about bipartisan U.S. legislation to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to a company based in the United States or a friendly country. 

“It is both a national security and cybersecurity imperative to get the CCP out of American phones, out of our data, and out of TikTok. This app can and should continue, but only under non-adversary ownership and subject to American privacy protections. 

“I am committed to protecting the privacy of Americans, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on robust legislation to protect our civil liberties and our kids across all social media platforms.” 

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