Former Vice President Mike Pence has written a letter to every member of Congress who voted for the bill forcing the Chinese-government-linked ByteDance to sell TikTok, praising them for upholding national security “over that of deep-pocketed lobbyists,” The Post has learned.
The letter will be sent out Wednesday and will go to Democrats and Republicans who voted in support of the bill that passed the Senate Tuesday and was signed into law by President Biden Wednesday. The bill will take about nine months for ByteDance to sell the social media company or be banned, but TikTok has already stated it will seek a legal challenge against the measure.
In the letter, Pence stressed the link between TikTok and the Chinese Communist Party and highlighted the efforts of the Trump-Pence administration in issuing an executive order implementing the recommendation for TikTok to be sold. He also argued TikTok has been influencing public opinion in the US.
“TikTok pushes content aligned with the CCP’s agenda. It’s no coincidence that TikTok was flooded with pro-Hamas and antisemitic videos in the aftermath of the October 7th attack,” Pence wrote in the letter, to be sent out by his org, Advancing American Freedom.
“I have no doubt that the current wave of antisemitism roaring across college campuses is being prodded on by the CCP’s control over TikTok’s algorithm. In voting to force the sale of TikTok, you rightly prioritized the United States’s national security interests over that of deep-pocketed lobbyists who sought to guide Congress to put their own financial investments over America’s best interests,” the letter reads. “Again, I commend you for your vote and thank you for your willingness to stand up for the American people against the Chinese Communist Party.”
Pence has been a strong opponent of the social media platform and has long called it a “national security threat.” In a Fox News op-ed published in March, he called the app “digital fentanyl” and said it allows the CCP to “manipulate the minds of young Americans at will and compromises the privacy of millions of Americans.”
The letter comes on the heels of former President Donald Trump telling his supporters, especially young voters, to be mindful that Biden was the one who signed the bill into law.
“Just so everyone knows, especially the young people, Crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok. He is the one pushing it to close, and doing it to help his friends over at Facebook become richer and more dominant, and able to continue to fight, perhaps illegally, the Republican Party,” the presumptive GOP nominee wrote on Truth Social Monday. “It’s called ELECTION INTERFERENCE! Young people, and lots of others, must remember this on November 5th, ELECTION DAY, when they vote! They also must remember, more importantly, that he is destroying our Country, and is A MAJOR THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!” Trump went on.
The former president first came out against TikTok in his executive order under his administration, but has recently come out against the Chinese government-linked company being forced to sell the platform, arguing it would only benefit companies like Facebook. His change in policy appeared after reportedly he met with a major donor to his campaign, Jeffrey Yass, who has a 15% stake in ByteDance.
