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| Bart Gordon |
Former Congressman Bart Gordon represents Beijing-headquartered ByteDance, parent company of Chinese social media darling TikTok, which is trying to fend off US sanctions.
Sens. Chuck Schumer and Tom Cotton have asked Joseph Maguire, acting director of national intelligence, for an assessment on whether the short-form video platform poses a national security risk to the US.
The Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 18 that TikTok is "looking for ways to shake off its ties to China."
Moving operations to Singapore and rebranding in the US are among considerations that have been floated by TikTok executives and advisors.
A ByteDance spokesperson though, told the WSJ that a Singapore shift is not in the cards.
Gordon, a Democrat who represented the Nashville area for 26 years and chaired the House science & technology committee, handles general issues affecting Internet companies for ByteDance, in his capacity as partner at K&L Gates.
K&L's Stephen Martinko, former chief of staff to Congressman Bill Shuster and member of the Trump transition team, and Stacy Ettinger, one-time aide to Schumer, also represent ByteDance.
The Journal noted that ByteDance, which is valued at $75B, ranks as one of the most valuable startups in the world.
Ballard Partners has signed to a represent the US unit of Rheinmetall, Germany’s biggest defense contractor, on Army procurement issues.
BGR Group signs on to provide lobbying and PR services for Terzo, an AI financial intelligence platform. Douglas Lute, chair of BGR’s international and defense practices, will join Terzo’s board of directors.
Avoq has landed Palantir Technologies, the controversial surveillance company founded by right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, as a client.
Anne Kierig, who was senior manager of public policy at Amazon, has joined the American Advertising Federation as VP-government affairs. She takes over for Clark Rector, who is retiring after a 37-year run at AAF.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which was established in compliance with the executive order signed by President Trump, has hired Valcour LLC, which has close ties with his administration.
