US House Passes Bill to Force ByteDance to Divest TikTok or Face Ban

The US Home of Representatives overwhelmingly handed a invoice on Wednesday that might give TikTok’s Chinese language proprietor ByteDance about six months to divest the US belongings of the short-video app utilized by about 170 million People or face a ban.

The invoice handed 352-65, with bipartisan help, however it faces a extra unsure path within the Senate the place some favour a unique strategy to regulating foreign-owned apps that might pose safety issues. Democratic Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer has not indicated how he plans to proceed.

TikTok’s destiny has develop into a significant concern in Washington. Democratic and Republican lawmakers mentioned their workplaces had acquired giant volumes of calls from teenaged TikTok customers who oppose the laws, with the amount of complaints at occasions exceeding the variety of calls in search of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The measure can also be the newest in a collection of strikes in Washington to reply to US nationwide safety issues about China, from linked automobiles to superior synthetic intelligence chips to cranes at US ports.

The vote comes simply over per week because the invoice was proposed following one public listening to with little debate, and after motion in Congress had stalled for greater than a 12 months. Final month, President Joe Biden’s re-election marketing campaign joined TikTok, elevating hopes amongst TikTok officers that laws was unlikely this 12 months.

The Home Vitality and Commerce Committee final week voted 50-0 in favour of the invoice, setting it up for a vote earlier than the total Home.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will go to Capitol Hill on Wednesday on a beforehand scheduled journey to speak to senators, a supply briefed on the matter mentioned.

“This laws has a predetermined consequence: a complete ban of TikTok in america,” the corporate mentioned earlier than the vote. “The federal government is making an attempt to strip 170 million People of their Constitutional proper to free expression,” it added.

Biden mentioned final week that he would signal the invoice. White Home nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan mentioned on Tuesday the objective was ending Chinese language possession, not banning TikTok.

“Do we wish TikTok, as a platform, to be owned by an American firm or owned by China? Do we wish the information from TikTok – youngsters’s information, adults’ information – to be going, to be staying right here in America or going to China?” he mentioned.

It’s unclear whether or not China would approve any sale or if TikTok’s US belongings may very well be divested in six months. If ByteDance failed to take action, app shops operated by Apple, Google and others couldn’t legally provide TikTok or present internet hosting companies to ByteDance-controlled functions.

In 2020, then-President Donald Trump sought to ban TikTok and Chinese language-owned WeChat however was blocked by the courts. In current days he had raised issues a few ban. It stays unclear if Tencent’s WeChat or different high-profile Chinese language-owned apps might face a ban below the laws.

Any pressured TikTok divestment from the US would nearly actually face authorized challenges, which the corporate would want to file inside 165 days of the invoice being signed by the president. In November, a US decide blocked a Montana state ban on TikTok use after the corporate sued.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Modifying by Chris Sanders and Jamie Freed

Be taught extra:

Is the TikTok Fashion Boom Already Over?

The ByteDance-owned app has massive ambitions to be an e-commerce participant in league with Amazon with affect in trend on par with Instagram. Now it’s going through new threats — each from outdoors and inside.