On April 20, the United States House of Representatives approved the updated divest-or-ban legislation on Tiktok by a vote of 360 to 58. If passed by the US Senate and signed by President Joe Biden, this measure might be a historical milestone as the first time the US government has enacted legislation to shut down an entire social media platform.
House passage of the bill is only the first step. It is important for the Senate to pass the measure for it to become law, and lawmakers in that chamber indicated it would undergo a thorough review.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that he’ll have to consult relevant committee chairs to determine the bill’s path. US president Joe Biden said if Congress passes the measure, he will sign it.
“This bill protects Americans and especially America’s children from the malign influence of Chinese propaganda on the app TikTok. This app is a spy balloon in Americans’ phones,” said Texas Republican representative Michael McCaul, author of the bill (Bloomberg reports). The measure allows ByteDance, the app’s Chinese parent company, six months to sell its controlling stake. If it fails to do so, the app will be prohibited in the United States.
When it was revealed earlier this week that TikTok bill was back on the table, the company issued a statement claiming that the House is “using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform.”
Why US wants to ban Tiktok?
The decision was made primarily because lawmakers are concerned that ByteDance could be forced by the Chinese government to hand over data of millions of US users.
Several politicians in the United States have long expressed alarm about China’s influence on TikTok, which is owned by Chinese business ByteDance.
According to BBC, TikTok has previously tried to assure that data of its US users are safe, and has been shielded from ByteDance employees in China. TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew warned that if the app is banned in the US, it would give “more power to a handful of other social media companies,” and several Americans’ jobs will be at risk.
What will happen if the bill will pass?
The measure aims to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to a bidder approved by American officials, as well as to ensure that ByteDance no longer has access to US user data or control over the TikTok algorithm that determines which videos American consumers watch.
If TikTok does not comply within nine months of the bill’s implementation, the government may order the removal of its app from US app stores. Under the proposed legislation, the time period might be extended to a full year.