Attached you will find a termination letter with Tic Tok regarding the Veterans Voices initiative they approached us with as we explored using Tik Tok as an advertising and marketing channel to over 170 million Americans that use Tic Tok daily.  This agreement provided that Tik Tok would make a donation $500,000.00 to the VFW Foundation as well as a $500,000.00 in ad credits to help us with using Tik Tok as a marketing medium. 

 We entered into this agreement with assurance from Tik Tok that if they did not win their appeal of the ban that they would be able to show that their new Company called Tik Tok USA would take over and would pass any means testing.

 As the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected TikTok’s bid to overturn the pending ban of the platform in the United States authorized by P.L. 118-50 and concluded that the separate company called Tik Tok USA was not independent from China which has been declared a Foreign Adversary by the United States we have no choice but to terminate the agreement.  To date we have not received any financial consideration or payment and are looking into refunding any credit that may have been extended as our VFW Channel on Tik Tok went live several weeks ago.

 It was brought to our attention by congressional staffers yesterday to our Washington office that we would no longer be allowed to testify before congress because of the recent ruling by the court if we had this agreement in place.   An integral part of what we as the VFW does in advocating for service members and veterans is providing testimony on Capitol Hill, we fully understood the implications and we made the decision that the agreement should be terminated immediately because of the court’s decision.

 An email was sent from me to our Washington office to be shared with congressional leaders about our intent to terminate that was followed up with the attached letter yesterday.

 For the time being or up to the time that Tik Tok is shut down or authorized to continue operation we are keeping our Tik Tok channel as almost every member of Congress has a Tik Tok account to include over 170 million Americans and countless for profit and nonprofit organizations. We will continue to use it to spread the message of what the VFW does to make America and the communities we serve better.  Before I am inundated with get rid of the Tik Tok Channel know that I believe China should know that I own a gun, drink beer and vote and will defend the United States of America from all enemies, I know most of you hold these same beliefs.  If you have concerns about your own privacy, then do not create a Tik Tok account.

 As such we have been able to confirm that we can continue to provide testimony and that the Chiefs testimony is scheduled for Tuesday March 4, 2025, in Room G50 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building at 10:00 am.   This changes our agenda for the Washington conference as the Chief usually testifies on Wednesday.  A copy of the updated agenda is attached and will be updated on the VFW website as well as notification to all legislative committee members.  

 Please feel free to pass this email on to members in your Department.

 Should you have any questions please let me know. Thank you.

 Dan West

Adjutant General

Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States

406 W. 34th Street

Kansas City, Missouri 64111

816.968.1110

www.vfw.org

Join at www.vfw.org/join/eligibility