Lawmakers in the nation’s Capital on Tuesday introduced the bipartisan Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

If passed into law, the bill would require companies conducting business in the U.S. sever ties with the Chinese company ByteDance and similar Chinese Communist Party-affiliated companies. ByteDance controls the popular social media application TikTok.

The bill throws a legislative counterpunch at the Chinese Communist Party influence in the U.S. The CCP influence includes TikTok, which is covered by the bill, and two electric vehicle battery plants slated for construction in Michigan that are not covered by the bill.

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Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-MI, is using TikTok as part of her U.S. Senate campaign strategy, and has also signed nondisclosure agreements with both battery plants.

Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was introduced as concerns grow about Chinese Communist Party affiliations with the social media giant TikTok and, in Michigan, CCP ties with the proposed electric vehicle battery plants in Big Rapids and Marshall. Gotion, in Big Rapids, and the joint Ford Motor Company/Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., in Marshall.

The Midwesterner has obtained copies of the five-year NDAs Slotkin and a staffer signed with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation in 2022 related to Gotion and CATL, referred to as “Development Projects” in the NDAs.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin’s non-disclosure agreement preventing her from being transparent about CCP-related projects

“The Recipient shall hold any Development Project Information in confidence and shall not share any Development Project Information with any third parties,” according to the NDA Slotkin signed. “Subject to Section 4, the Recipient shall further hold in confidence: (i) the fact that Development Project Information for any applicable Development Project has been made available to the Recipient by the MEDC, and (ii) the fact that the MEDC is discussing a Development Project (pursuant to which the Recipient has received Development Project Information) with any certain company.”

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin’s non-disclosure agreement preventing her from being transparent about CCP-related projects

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Slotkin supported the Inflation Reduction Act, which Ford executives say could be used to fund the Marshall plant. Some of the IRA subsidies could wind up in China, according to lawmakers. After signing the NDAs and the announcement by Ford of its joint venture with CATL, Slotkin received $20,000 in campaign donations from Ford executives, including the board director and members of the Ford family.

“TikTok is owned by the Chinese Communist Party and we cannot allow the CCP to indoctrinate our children,” Rep. John Moolenaar, R-MI, said in a statement. “This strong bipartisan legislation is an important step forward in making sure social media apps owned by foreign adversaries are prohibited from doing business in America. I encourage all Americans using TikTok to strongly consider the personal risks of having their data owned by the Chinese Communist Party and hope they will stop using the app as this bipartisan legislation moves forward.”

The bill was introduced by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-WI, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-IL, chairman and ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

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“This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” Gallagher said in a statement. “America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States. TikTok’s time in the United States is over unless it ends its relationship with CCP-controlled ByteDance.”

Krishnamoorthi added: “So long as it is owned by ByteDance and thus required to collaborate with the CCP, TikTok poses critical threats to our national security. Our bipartisan legislation would protect American social media users by driving the divestment of foreign adversary-controlled apps to ensure that Americans are protected from the digital surveillance and influence operations of regimes that could weaponize their personal data against them. Whether it’s Russia or the CCP, this bill ensures the President has the tools he needs to press dangerous apps to divest and defend Americans’ security and privacy against our adversaries.”