Johnson says he plans to uphold the law around TikTok ban
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he plans to uphold the law around the TikTok ban in America.
Johnson joined NBC News’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, where he weighed in on the overnight social media blackout when the popular app was no longer accessible in the United States.
Host Kristen Welker asked him if President-elect Trump overturned the ban, it would send a message to China.
“No, I think we will enforce the law,” Johnson replied. “And when President Trump issued the Truth post and said save TikTok, the way we read that is that he’s going to try to force along a true divestiture, changing of hands, the ownership.”
Overnight, Trump posted “Save TikTok” to his Truth Social platform. He signaled he may change the law once he’s in office.
While the law could still be changed, the center of the issue remains. The United States is concerned that TikTok is influenced by the Chinese Communist Party.
“It’s not the platform that members of Congress are concerned about,” Johnson said. “It’s the Chinese Communist Party.”
Welker asked why TikTok’s owner ByteDance had not sold to allow the app to continue operating in the U.S. If they have yet to sell the app, why should Americans have confidence the app will make a comeback, Welker questioned.
“That’s the question. We don’t have any confidence in ByteDance,” Johnson said. “They have 270 days to be exact. The law is very precise, and the only way to extend that is there is an actual deal in the works.”