TikTok ban: House Republicans to vote Wednesday on app's future

WASHINGTON - House Republicans are going forward with a vote on Wednesday on a bill that would ban TikTok in the United States if the Chinese company ByteDance doesn't sell the social media platform.

The vote was confirmed to the Associated Press by a Republican congressional aide who was not authorized to speak publicly and said lawmakers will vote on Wednesday, and they will face no significant pushback on the bill. 

The push by Republican lawmakers comes as former President Donald Trump voiced opposition to the effort, an unusual break with the former president by House Republicans.

Speaker Mike Johnson and others have all forcefully come out in favor of the bill. 

"It’s an important bipartisan measure to take on China, our largest geopolitical foe, which is actively undermining our economy and security," Johnson declared last week.

Trump said Monday that he still believes TikTok poses a national security risk but is opposed to banning the hugely popular app because doing so would help its rival, Facebook, which he continues to lambast over his 2020 election loss.

"Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it. There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it," Trump said in a call-in interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box." "There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok. But the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok you’re going to make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media."

"When I look at it, I’m not looking to make Facebook double the size," he added. "I think Facebook has been very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections."

Trump has repeatedly complained about Facebook's role during the 2020 election, which he still refuses to concede he lost to President Joe Biden. That includes at least $400 million that its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife donated to two nonprofit organizations that distributed grants to state and local governments to help them conduct the 2020 election at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. It was reported from Los Angeles.