By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks says congress cannot let TikTok stockpile sensitive information and spy on Americans.

Miller-Meeks and other members of the House Commerce Committee quizzed TikTok’s CEO for more than five hours yesterday. “Certainly, as you can see, in a bipartisan way we have concerns,” Miller-Meeks told TikTok’s CEO, “and those concerns are valid.”

The app, which has 150 American users, is owned by a Chinese company and the Biden Administration is demanding that the Chinese sell their stake in the company — or the app will be banned in the U.S. Miller noted the hearing began hours after China announced its opposition to the sale of TikTok.

“Why would China or the Chinese Communist Party be opposed to a forced sale of TikTok?” Miller-Meeks asked. “…That leads people to believe that there’s something more nefarious and that there is, in fact, data that is captured, is stored and poses a risk not only to children in the United States, but also poses a risk to national security.”

Miller-Meeks, a Republican who represents Iowa’s first congressional district, said she believes TikTok is gathering personal data from Americans and sharing it with our adversaries. Republican Ashley Hinson, Iowa’s second district congresswoman, said TikTok needs to be banned.

“I believe the time to act was yesterday here,” Hinson said during a House Appropriations Committee hearing with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin.

Hinson said the U.S. Treasury Department has been negotiating with TikTok’s owners for three years — since the Trump Administration — and cutting ties with China and it’s time to ban what Hinson calls a “Trojan horse app.”