GOP Senator Threatens Companies Working With Newly Restored TikTok
Sen. Tom Cotton was one of a few Republicans who broke from Donald Trump over the app’s shutdown.
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Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton issued a stern warning for companies working with TikTok, shortly after breaking with president-elect Donald Trump on the embattled platform’s shutdown.
“Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law,” Cotton said on Sunday in response to a TikTok statement.
Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs. Think about… https://t.co/XamZ1qAk2K
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) January 19, 2025
The social media giant thanked its service providers for restoring service, throwing in a shoutout to Trump for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
Cotton, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned that companies serving TikTok could be held liable not just by the Department of Justice but also by state attorneys general and shareholders.
“Think about it,” he said.
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TikTok went dark for less than a day in the U.S. after the Supreme Court upheld a ban on the app over national security concerns. The platform is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, which has moved its operations to Singapore.
Cotton and Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, earlier released a joint statement urging companies to halt operations with TikTok.
“For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China,” Ricketts said.
TikTok thanked Trump for helping the company restore access to American users on Sunday, but many were quick to slam the move as “a stunt to make Trump look good.”
Trump, who is set to be inaugurated on Monday, vowed to issue an executive order to give TikTok a reprieve.
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