The House took a significant step today towards prohibiting TikTok. Legislators passed a bill aiming to ban the app’s usage in the U.S. if its parent company, ByteDance, fails to sell it within six months.
Concerns about potential data sharing with the Chinese government are driving this move, citing national security risks.
However, ByteDance denies these allegations, asserting it hasn’t shared data and wouldn’t comply if asked.
In response, a TikTok spokesperson expressed hope that the Senate would consider the broader impact on the economy, small businesses, and the millions of American users.
This isn’t the first time TikTok faced a ban threat. In 2020, President Trump issued an executive order attempting to compel ByteDance to sell the app, which ultimately failed.
Interestingly, Trump has now expressed support for TikTok on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The Senate now holds the fate of the bill. If approved, legal challenges may ensue before TikTok could be delisted from app stores and restricted from web hosting sites.
Despite President Biden’s recent TikTok account launch for his reelection campaign, he intends to sign the bill into law if passed.
