Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) emerged as a key figure Sunday to stand up to President-elect Donald Trump on the latter’s vow to “save” TikTok from being banned in the US after its Chinese-owned parent company declined to divest from the video-sharing app in time to comply with US law.

Senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said "there's no legal basis" for an extension to keep the social media platform online.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, which many Republicans, including Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders, have decried as having “significant ties to the Chinese Communist Party.” No critic has been louder than Tom Cotton, who says TikTok is “a Chinese Communist spy app” that “ endangers our national security and poisons our children .”

U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) are praising the Senate for passing the Laken Riley Act, which came at the result of a bipartisan vote o

Pete Hegseth, military analyst at Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. and US secretary of defense nominee for US President-elect Donald Trump, during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Kent Nishimura)

Shortly after service was restored, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) expressed his thoughts on the return on X, sharing TikTok's post. Here's what he said.

In a statement, senators disputed President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that he would “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day extension to bring the app back.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton issued a stern warning for companies working with TikTok, shortly after breaking with president-elect Donald Trump on the embattled platform’s shutdown. “Any company that hosts,

"The only “deal” should be unconditional surrender by Hamas—which is already nearly destroyed—and return of ALL hostages."

Tulsi Gabbard and the Trump transition team have accused Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner of "stonewalling" her confirmation process.

Arkansas has four seats in the House of Representatives, all held by Republicans. There are three ways for a sitting senator or representative to be removed from Congress. Members of Congress do not face term limits, but they do face elections. Arkansas elected its latest House Representatives in 2024. Senate elections will be held Nov. 3, 2026.