US House passes bill that could ban TikTok

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would see TikTok banned in the U.S. unless its Chinese-owned parent company sells it.

The House voted 352 to 65 to pass the bill. It will now head to the Senate, where its fate remains unclear as several lawmakers have expressed hesitation over the legislation, amid a major lobbying push from TikTok on Capitol Hill.

The Senate Intel Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Vice Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said they would work together to get the the bill passed through the Senate, adding: “We are united in our concern about the national security threat posed by TikTok... whose parent company ByteDance remains legally required to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, the chairman of the House select committee on China and the lead GOP sponsor of the bill, said it was not an outright ban of the app, but TikTok responded to the House vote saying on X, “This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: it’s a ban.” The company urged senators to “consider the facts” of how the bill would impact both constituents and the economy.

Lawmakers have for years warned that ByteDance retains a close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party and could risk national security if Beijing has access to U.S. users’ data.

ByteDance’s failure to sell within six months after the bill’s signing would block TikTok from U.S. app stores or web hosting services.

The bipartisan measure was unanimously approved last week by the House Energy and Commerce committee.

President Joe Biden has said he would sign the bill if passed by Congress.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said U.S. claims of a national security threat were unsubstantiated, and a spokesperson added a ban would ultimately “come back to bite the United States.”

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce — the federal agency that oversees corporate affairs — has not yet said whether it would approve a sale. 

Source

https://www.semafor.com/article/03/13/2024/house-tiktok-ban-bill