Here are the lobbyists working to keep TikTok on U.S. phones

By Victor Reklaitis

A House-passed bill, which the Senate looks poised to OK this week, gives the app a year to ditch its Chinese ownership - otherwise it's banned nationwide

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance Ltd. backed a big Washington lobbying effort in this year's first quarter. The push to influence Congress came as U.S. lawmakers advanced a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban for the video-sharing app.

Beijing-based ByteDance paid out at least $2.68 million on lobbying in the first quarter of 2024, according to a disclosure filed Monday. That's after the Chinese company shelled out $8.74 million on lobbying in 2023 after spending less than $5 million in both 2022 and 2021, and paying out just $2.58 million in 2020, according to OpenSecrets data.

Disclosures for the first quarter also indicate TikTok and its parent company used at least 47 lobbyists in this year's first three months - 15 in-house lobbyists and 32 outside lobbyists from seven different companies.

The outside companies included Crossroads Strategies, an advisory firm, where former Mississippi Republican Sen. Trent Lott and former Louisiana Democratic Sen. John Breaux were among those lobbying in the first quarter, as well as Dentons US, a law firm, where former New York Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley and former California Republican Rep. Jeff Denham were involved. Crossroads and Dentons didn't immediately respond to request for comment.

Other outside companies used in the first quarter were K&L Gates, a law firm, where former Tennessee Democratic Rep. Bart Gordon worked on ByteDance's behalf, along with Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies, where former Illinois Republican Rep. Rodney Davis lobbied for TikTok. K&L Gates declined to comment, while Cozen O'Conner didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition, Mehlman Consulting disclosed that a dozen of its lobbyists worked on TikTok's behalf in the first quarter. Bruce Mehlman, who was an assistant secretary at the U.S. Commerce Department before becoming a lobbyist, declined to comment, saying TikTok prefers to handle all media inquiries itself directly.

Related: House passes bill that could lead to U.S. TikTok ban, and Senate's OK looks likely

On March 13, the House voted 352-65 in favor of a bill that would ban TikTok nationwide if the app continues to be controlled by a Chinese parent company, with ByteDance getting six months to divest itself of TikTok.

The bipartisan legislation was subsequently changed to give ByteDance up to a year to sell in order to get the support of a key Democratic senator - Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell of Washington state. The House then passed that revised bill on Saturday in a 360-58 vote, while also approving long-delayed aid for Ukraine and other national-security measures.

The Senate is widely expected to give its OK this week to the House's TikTok bill, aid to Ukraine and the other measures, voting on the entire legislative package with no revisions possible.

Supporters of the TikTok bill have argued the app is a threat to national security and raised data-privacy concerns. They've funded advertisements recently, with one group called the American Parents Coalition saying in its spot: "Stop the poison - stop TikTok."

A TikTok spokesperson has said the U.S. government is "attempting to trample the free-speech rights of 170 million Americans and devastate 7 million small businesses nationwide." The app has gotten attention for calling on many of its users to lobby their representatives in Congress over the possible ban. TikTok didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden has promised to sign the TikTok bill into law if it clears both chambers of Congress.

-Victor Reklaitis

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04-23-24 1302ET

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