MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin Republican, Bryan Steil admits he doesn’t have TikTok on his phone, but appreciates 170 million American users expect a resolution that keeps it from going dark again.
“I think what you’ll see is that divestiture and that forced sale in the not-too-distant future,” Steil told Wisconsin’s Morning News. That said, he insists the concerns that prompted a bipartisan bill to force the sale of the app or a ban on it, have not subsided.
“TikTok itself, the app, is not the concern,” he said. “The concern is the ownership structure, and what we need to do is force the sale of that to separate TikTok the app from the parent company and the data collection that’s occurring by the Communist Party of China.”
American lawmakers have long criticized ByteDance, the Chinese-based parent company for TikTok. They believe it facilitates access to troves of data on tens of millions of Americans to the Chinese Communist Party.
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“TikTok at any time could sell and separate themselves from their parent. The fact that they haven’t, tells you a lot about what’s going on,” Steil believes.
For those who scoff at the suggestion, Steil says, follow the money. Noting the app could sell for billions, “They would rather have your data than have the money of selling the company.”
Steil spoke with Wisconsin’s Morning News ahead of attending President Trump’s Inauguration.
“To me, it’s disappointing we’re not outside,” Steil indicated.
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He said it wasn’t too cold by Wisconsin standards in Washington today. Moving the ceremony indoors to the Capitol Rotunda meant many VIPs skipped town as they would not be able to witness the event in person
“After they canceled the mall viewing of the swearing-in, I think a lot of people made a choice to maybe not drive in,” Steil said.
Steil was elected at the midpoint of Trump’s first term. He says this time there’s more unity among Republicans to advance an agenda.
“There’s going to be tactical differences. We have some goofballs in our conference as well, but at the end of the day, I think what we need to do is make sure we’re focused on achieving the broader goals.”
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