President Donald Trump should not accept a “halfway deal” with China over the social media app TikTok, according to The Heritage Foundation.
Heritage, often referred to as the world’s leading conservative think tank, has long held the position that TikTok must completely break from its China-based parent company or be banned in the U.S.
“TikTok is a weapon of the Chinese Communist Party,” Wes Hodges, acting director of The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Technology and the Human Person, told NatSec Daily.
“For too long, it has harvested Americans’ data, manipulated our children, and censored the truth to serve Beijing,” Hodges explaine,d. “A true divestment, where TikTok’s algorithm and U.S. user data are fully controlled by a friendly entity, would be a resounding national security victory for the Trump administration.”
Earlier this week, Trump indicated a TikTok deal with China had been reached. Trump is scheduled to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
On Monday, a spokesman for Vice President JD Vance told The Daily Signal that “a framework deal” exists “that fulfills another campaign promise and saves TikTok.”
Any deal that still give China access to TikTok’s algorithm’s license still presents the “same threats” to the U.S., according to Hodges.
Concerns over TikTok center around the social media platform’s parent company, ByteDance, which is headquartered in Beijing. Under Chinese law, all China-based companies are required to make data available to the Chinese Communist Party, meaning the CCP can access American TikTok user data.
Last year, Congress passed a law giving TikTok nine months to divest from ByteDance or be banned in the U.S. In January, the Supreme Court upheld the law and affirmed that TikTok must divest from ByteDance or face expulsion from American mobile application stores.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has signed multiple executive orders extending the deadline for the U.S. TikTok ban, signing the latest extension on Tuesday.
Trump’s own opinion on the social media app has evolved over time. Once critical of the platform, the president now speaks of the platform’s importance to his younger supporters. In August, Trump’s White House joined the social media platform.
Additional details about the U.S.-China TikTok deal are expected to be made known as early as Friday following Trump’s discussion with Xi.
Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell contributed to this report.
