Four Republican senators are calling on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to investigate a Chinese company’s purchase of Epic! Creations, a widely used educational platform that serves millions of American students.
Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Jon Husted of Ohio, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska sent a letter Tuesday urging the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review TAL Education Group’s acquisition of Epic, which was sold through bankruptcy proceedings earlier this year.
TAL Education Group, headquartered in Beijing, is subject to Chinese laws that grant the government broad access to user data. The senators warn this creates serious risks for American children’s privacy and educational independence.
“We believe that this acquisition by TAL, which is subject to Chinese data laws that grant broad access of user data to the CCP, represents a significant threat to American children and educational sovereignty,” the senators wrote. Cassidy chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
Epic’s platform includes 40,000 books, videos, and quizzes used by students and teachers in 94% of American elementary schools, according to the letter. The senators expressed concern that Chinese ownership could transform the educational tool into an influence operation targeting young Americans.
As a Chinese company, TAL falls under China’s National Intelligence Law and Data Security Law, meaning its assets and data could be accessed by the Chinese Communist Party. The senators cited previous CFIUS actions forcing divestitures of companies including Grindr, StayNTouch, and PatientsLikeMe over similar data privacy concerns.
Beyond data security, the lawmakers worry about potential editorial control over Epic’s content library. They questioned whether adequate safeguards exist to prevent TAL or Chinese authorities from altering or curating content in ways that could constitute propaganda.
The senators drew parallels to recent efforts combating Chinese influence in higher education, noting the shutdown of dozens of Confucius Institutes at American colleges and universities. “We cannot now allow China to make inroads into our elementary school systems to indoctrinate a young generation of American students,” they wrote.
The letter requests information on whether CFIUS has initiated a review, what categories of student data Epic collects, the extent of TAL’s potential editorial influence, and what monitoring mechanisms exist for data protection commitments.
The concerns come as the House of Representatives passed three bills this week aimed at protecting K-12 classrooms from Chinese Communist Party influence. The PROTECT Our Kids Act, CLASS Act, and TRACE Act all received bipartisan support and aim to strengthen transparency and block adversarial funding in American schools.
