US House Approves Bill Requiring ByteDance to Sell TikTok to Prevent Potential Ban
WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved legislation giving TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to sell the short video app’s US assets or face a ban, the biggest threat to the app since the Trump era. administration.
The bill passed 352-65 with bipartisan support, but faces a more uncertain path in the Senate, where some advocate a different approach to regulating foreign-owned apps that pose security concerns. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate would review the legislation.
The fate of TikTok, which is used by about 170 million Americans, has become a major issue in Washington. Lawmakers said their offices had received large numbers of calls from teenage TikTok users opposing the legislation, with the number of complaints at times outstripping the number of calls about the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“This process was secret and the bill stalled for one reason: it’s a ban,” a TikTok spokesperson said after the vote, adding that they hoped the Senate would “consider the facts, listen to their constituents” when considering the bill. .
The move is the latest in a series of moves in Washington to address U.S. national security concerns about China, from connected vehicles to advanced artificial intelligence chips and cranes at U.S. ports.
“This is a critical national security issue. The Senate needs to take this up and pass it,” House Republican Steve Scalise said on social media X.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, who will play a key role in the Senate’s next move, said she wants legislation “that could hold up in court” and is considering a separate bill, but isn’t sure what her next step will be.
The vote comes just over a week after the bill was introduced after one public hearing with little debate and after Congress stalled for more than a year. Last month, President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign linked to TikTok, raising hopes among TikTok officials that legislation is unlikely this year.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 50-0 in favor of the bill last week, setting it up for a vote in the full session.
TIKTOK’S CEO GOES TO WASHINGTON
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will visit Capitol Hill on Wednesday on a previously scheduled trip to speak with senators, a source briefed on the matter said, amid strong support for the app.
Several dozen TikTok users gathered outside the Capitol grounds before the vote. The company paid for their trip to Washington and lodging, a TikTok spokesperson said.
The group included Mona Swain, 23, who said she joined TikTok in 2019 while studying musical theater. Now a full-time content creator, he said he pays his mother’s mortgage and his brother’s and sister’s college education with the earnings from the app.
“It’s going to put a lot of people out of work, which is the scariest thing,” Swain said. “We’re living in a time where most people my age are barely getting by every day. And to be put out of work at such a crazy time in my life and just a lot of other people’s lives is really, really scary right now.”
But the political climate favors the bill. Biden said last week he would sign it, and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that the goal was to end Chinese ownership, not ban TikTok. “Do we want TikTok as a platform to be owned by an American company or owned by China? Do we want TikTok’s data — children’s data, adult data — to go, stay here in America, or go to China?” he said.
It is unclear whether China would approve the sale or if TikTok’s US assets could be sold within six months. If ByteDance failed, app stores run by Apple, Alphabet’s Google and others would not be able to legally offer TikTok or provide web hosting services for apps controlled by ByteDance. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok and China’s WeChat, but was blocked by the courts.
In recent days, he had expressed his concern about the ban. It remains unclear whether Tencent’s WeChat or other high-profile Chinese-owned apps can be legally banned. Any forced sale of TikTok from the US would almost certainly face legal challenges, which the company would have to file within 165 days of the bill being signed by the president.
There are still potential legal problems with the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups arguing the bill is unconstitutional on free speech and other grounds.
In November, a US judge blocked the state of Montana’s ban on TikTok after the company sued.
