Lawmakers in Washington introduced a bill this week that would require TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company or face a ban in the United States. When many users opened the popular app on Thursday, the company greeted them with messages opposing the bill, and multiple offices on Capitol Hill were flooded with calls.
A message on the app read, “Please stop shutting down TikTok.” It also included a button asking people to call their representatives and “tell Congress what TikTok means to you and tell them to vote no.”
By midday, the phone lines reserved for members of Congress were jammed with calls, according to posts by X's staff and two congressional aides familiar with the situation. Aides said some of the callers, who appeared to be teenagers, hung up as soon as they were connected. One aide said the office had received about 100 of the reports, and another said the office had received more than 1,000 calls. One staffer posted a screenshot to his X showing that TikTok is similar. sent Send push alerts to some users.
Some users said in X that they were unable to use the app before making a call. TikTok told the New York Times that while users can swipe right to delete messages, users typically swipe up to see the next video on the app, which could have caused confusion. Told. The company also said that the “X” to close the page was initially not visible for some users, but was later fixed.
Technology companies often try to rally users against the law, but their efforts are rarely so overt.
Lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the bill on a 50-0 vote Thursday. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana said on the X program that the full chamber will vote on the bill next week. The aim is to force TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the app. The House bill is one of several efforts aimed at reining in TikTok over the past year over concerns that ByteDance's relationship with the Chinese government poses a risk to national security.
The bill's co-sponsors, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), criticized TikTok's messages as misleading. “Here is an example of an enemy-controlled application lying to the American people and interfering with Congress' legislative process,” they said.
“This bill has a predetermined outcome: a complete ban on TikTok in the U.S.,” the company said in a post on X on Thursday.
TikTok declined to answer questions about its strategy or how many users the campaign reached. The company previously said lawmakers' concerns were unfounded, including because its U.S. operations and user data are protected from other parts of the organization.
There is a long way to go before this bill becomes law. Louisiana House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he supports the bill. If the full House passes the bill, it will be sent to the Senate.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, who introduced his own bill targeting the app, said he had some concerns about the direct naming of TikTok and ByteDance in the new bill, and that this fact could lead to He said this is a fact that can be cited in a legal challenge. But he said, “I have great respect for Congressman Gallagher and will consider this bill carefully.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will decide what bills the full Senate will consider. He said in his statement that he is discussing the bill with other Democrats.
“We will listen to opinions on the bill and decide on the best course of action,” he said.
Mike Nellis, a Democratic digital strategist and former senior adviser to Kamala Harris, said TikTok's warning to users was a “clever organizing tactic.”
But he added, “I'm concerned that this tactic could backfire and highlight the real problem that foreign technology companies have so much influence in the United States.”
Nellis, who has been working on advertising campaigns through TikTok, said: “I can imagine that with all these calls, lawmakers are feeling more pressure to take action than they were before.” .
The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a memo to members' offices Thursday afternoon with advice on how to respond to a flood of calls. The memo, obtained by The New York Times, included the committee's arguments in support of the bill and a “telephone script” for responding directly to callers.
One script suggests staff telling callers that “TikTok is lying about the bill” and that the app is “trying hard to hide” its ties to China. Ta.
“This bill requires TikTok to sever its ties,” the committee's manuscript reads. If the app does so, it advised staff to tell callers that they can “continue using TikTok” without being affected by China.