The U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon passed a bill that would require TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the popular social media app or be banned in the United States.
Efforts to ban TikTok date back to the Trump administration, but the issue has flared up again in recent months. The House already passed a similar bill in March, but the Senate has shown little interest in taking it up. The new version expands the period in which ByteDance can sell TikTok to nine months (versus six months under the previous bill) and allows the president to grant one additional 90-day extension. You will be able to do this.
The change appears to have satisfied some skeptics in the Senate. Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told reporters Thursday that she proposed the extension because it “makes it more likely that the sale will occur.”
The new bill passed 360-58 with strong support from both Republicans and Democrats. It's part of a larger package that includes foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and was likely included by House Speaker Mike Johnson as a way to rally more conservative support.
The Senate could consider the bill next week, and President Joe Biden has said he supports it and intends to sign it. If that happens, TikTok is expected to challenge the bill in court.
The Biden administration is briefing lawmakers on the national security threat posed by the app. The app is used by the Chinese government as a source of data about US users and as a means for the government to spread propaganda to Americans. On the other side of the aisle, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) today called the app an “American mobile device” used to “monitor and exploit Americans' personal information.” “It's a spy balloon mounted on a phone.”
When it was revealed earlier this week that the TikTok bill was back on the table, the company said: posted a statement The House of Representatives is once again blocking a ban that would trample on the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, destroy 7 million businesses, and shut down platforms under the cover of critical foreign and humanitarian aid. ' he claimed.
Human rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have also opposed previous attempts to ban the app.