There’s also a possibility TikTok could selectively edit the news people see, Gallagher said, comparing the app to the deadly drug fentanyl.
“It’s highly addictive, highly destructive,” he said.
These concerns may be increasingly bipartisan, he said, as Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) joined Gallagher last week in introducing a bill to ban the app from operating in the United States.
The Republican congressman, who made it clear Sunday he viewed the Chinese Communist Party as a direct threat to the United States, has been tapped by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to head a House Select Committee on China, should McCarthy become successful in his bid for speaker.
Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have been among TikTok’s most vocal detractors on the other side of the Capitol.
“If you have TikTok on your phone, delete it now,” Cotton said last week on Fox News. “And you should probably get a new phone as well.”