Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) renewed calls to ban TikTok in the U.S. following reports that the Chinese government has acquired an ownership stake in its parent company, ByteDance.
“The Biden Administration can no longer pretend that TikTok is not beholden to the Chinese Communist Party,” the Florida lawmaker said in a press release.
“Even before today, it was clear that TikTok represented a serious threat to personal privacy and U.S. national security,” he continued. “Beijing’s aggressiveness makes clear that the regime sees TikTok as an extension of the party-state, and the U.S. needs to treat it that way.”
The Information first reported Monday that the Chinese Communist Party in April took stake and a board seat at ByteDance, which also owns some popular apps in China including Douyin and Toutiao. The Washington Post later confirmed that reporting.
Former President Trump went after TikTok at the end of his term for its connections to China with the support of many Republican lawmakers.
He filed an executive order to ban the popular short-form video app in 2020 sold as protecting national security interests.
President Biden revoked the order in June, replacing it with a process for evaluating the security risks of foreign-owned apps.
Trump also pushed for an American firm to buy TikTok, but a deal has not materialized. Biden did not scrap that separate order for ByteDance to divest.