The U.S House of Representatives have passed a bill that would require the TikTok owner ByteDance, to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the United States.
352 Congress members voted in favor and only 65 against the bill.
The bill, which was fast-tracked to a vote after being unanimously approved by a committee last week, gives China-based ByteDance 165 days to divest from TikTok.
If it did not, app stores including the Apple App store and Google Play would be legally barred from hosting TikTok or providing web hosting services to ByteDance-controlled applications.
The vote in the House represents the most concrete threat to TikTok in an ongoing political battle over allegations the China-based company ByteDance could collect sensitive user data and politically censor content.
TikTok has repeatedly stated it has not and would not share U.S user data with the Chinese government.
Despite those arguments, TikTok faced an attempted ban by Donald Trump in 2020 and a state-level ban passed in Montana in 2023. Courts blocked both of those bans on grounds of first amendment violations, and Trump the ex-president has since reversed his stance, now opposing a ban on TikTok.
The treasury-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in March 2023 demanded ByteDance sell their TikTok shares or face the possibility of the app being banned, Reuters reported, but no action has been taken.
Although the bill was written with TikTok in mind, it is possible other China-owned platforms could be impacted, including US operations of Tencent’s WeChat, which Trump also sought to ban in 2020.
Prior to the House vote, China warned that a TikTok ban would “come back to bite the United States.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin accused the U.S of “suppressing TikTok” despite having “never found evidence that TikTok threatens US national security.”
“This kind of bullying behaviour that cannot win in fair competition disrupts companies’ normal business activity, damages the confidence of international investors in the investment environment, and damages the normal international economic and trade order.”
Wang Wenbin
“In the end, this will inevitably come back to bite the United States itself,” Wang added.
The bill sparked backlash from TikTok users, including protests outside the Capitol.
TikTok released a statement describing the bill passed in the House as a “ban” on the social media platform.
The statement read, “This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: It’s a ban.”
“We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, seven million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service,” it added.
Senate Urged To Pass Bill
Following the vote, U.S House Speaker, Mike Johnson urged the Senate to pass the TikTok bill.
Johnson posted on X that China is “America’s largest geopolitical foe” and is using technology to actively “undermine America’s economy and security.”
He said that apps like TikTok “allow the Chinese Communist Party to push harmful content to our youth and engage in malign activities such as harvesting the location, purchasing habits, contacts, and sensitive data of Americans.”
“Today’s bipartisan vote to pass The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act demonstrates Congress’ opposition to Communist China’s attempts to spy on and manipulate Americans and signals our resolve to deter our enemies. I urge the Senate to pass this bill and send it to the President so he can sign the bill into law.”
Mike Johnson
Leaders of the Senate intelligence committee also issued a joint statement saying that they “look forward” to getting the TikTok bill passed through Senate and signed into law.
The statement by Senate select committee on Intelligence Chair, Mark Warner and Vice-Chair Marco Rubio said, “We are united in our concern about the national security threat posed by TikTok.”
They described TikTok as a platform with “enormous power to influence and divide Americans whose parent company ByteDance remains legally required to do the bidding of the Chinese Community Party.”
“We were encouraged by today’s strong bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives, and look forward to working together to get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law,” they added.
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