Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer said Friday that forcing Chinese firm ByteDance to sell off TikTok is the only option, telling Newsmax that China has to be severed from being able to track Americans through the popular app.
Shaffer and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt joined “The Chris Salcedo Show” to discuss the ongoing saga of ByteDance’s ownership of the TikTok platform in the United States. At the end of the day, Shaffer and Holt agreed that China’s technology “is there in your phone to track you.”
And that’s a problem, they said, because the data that ByteDance collects, China owns.
“When you do have a system of intelligence collection that involves everything the Chinese do, there's no such thing as private enterprise in China. The Chinese own everything. So it's different,” Shaffer said. “So I think the best option remains the Chinese give in to President [Donald] Trump, let Elon Musk or MrBeast here in North Carolina, MrBeast is one of the guys looking at buying this. That's fine.
“But you need to sever directly the ability of the Chinese state — that is the state, not the corporation — the state to track everything that our metadata provides them as part of this."
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld the legislative ban that’s set to kick in Sunday if ByteDance has not sold off its U.S.-based TikTok platform. Holt said that people who oppose the ban don’t understand what’s happening to the 150 million monthly American users when they're using the app.
“Well, they don't understand big data. They don't understand data science, quantum computing or predictive analytics in AI. But that's one thing,” Holt said. “There is some troubling stuff about the legislation, which could lead to a back door to censorship on platforms that are U.S.-based. We have to sort that stuff out.”
Shaffer agreed.
“I'm like you, cautious about what our lawmakers do regarding laws that give them or give our federal government the power of interdicting data because they can abuse it. We know they will,” Shaffer said. “But in this case, Chris, I tend to side with the fact that we need to be removing the Chinese state from the ability to track everything anybody does on TikTok.”
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE – See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.