The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would require TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the United States.
The vote was a landslide, with 352 members of Congress voting in favor and only 65 voting against. The bill, which was quickly voted on after being unanimously approved in committee last week, gives China-based ByteDance 165 days to exit TikTok. Otherwise, app stores, including the Apple App Store and Google Play, would be legally prohibited from hosting TikTok or providing web hosting services to ByteDance-managed applications.
Immediately after the vote, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the result was “disappointing” and that the company was “doing everything we can” to protect the platform, including “enforcing our legal rights.” “I will.”
Chu said TikTok has invested in keeping data safe and protecting the platform from outside influence.
“This bill would give even more power to a small number of other social media companies and take billions out of the pockets of creators and small businesses,” he said in a video message. “It would put over 300,000 American jobs at risk and take away your TikTok.”
The vote in the House of Representatives is the most significant for TikTok amid an ongoing political battle over allegations that the China-based company collects sensitive user data and may politically censor content. It has become a concrete threat. TikTok has repeatedly said it does not and will not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government.
Despite these discussions, TikTok faced the following issues: tried Banned by Donald Trump in 2020, state level ban Passed in Montana in 2023.Courts blocked both of these bans on First Amendment violations, and Trump has since reversed His position is currently against banning TikTok.
Ahead of the vote, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin accused the United States of engaging in “hegemony” when “it cannot succeed in fair competition.”
“While the United States has never found any evidence in recent years that TikTok poses a threat to U.S. national security, we have never stopped pursuing TikTok,” he said at a regular press conference Wednesday. Ta.
“The United States’ bullying behavior disrupts the normal international trade order and will ultimately backfire.”
According to Reuters, the Treasury Department-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in March 2023 required ByteDance to sell its stake in TikTok or face the possibility of banning the app. No measures have been taken.
The bill’s future is less uncertain in the Senate. Some Senate Democrats have publicly opposed the bill, citing free speech concerns, and have proposed measures that address concerns of foreign influence across social media without specifically targeting TikTok. “Social media regulation is necessary, but it needs to be applied across the board,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner Who proposed another bill? Last year, he introduced a bill that would give the White House new powers over TikTok. He said he would “carefully consider this bill,” although he had “some concerns about the constitutionality of the approach of naming specific companies.” Ta.
The White House supports the bill, and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration “looks forward to passing this bill so it can reach the president’s desk.”
The bill’s authors argue that it does not constitute a ban, as it gives ByteDance the opportunity to sell TikTok and circumvent the block in the United States. Rep. Mike Gallagher, Republican chairman of the House China Select Committee, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthy, the committee’s top Democrat, will address national security concerns posed by Chinese ownership of the app. I have submitted a bill for this purpose.
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“As long as we have that separation, TikTok can survive and people can do whatever they want with it,” Gallagher said, appealing to US ByteDance investors: support sales. “This is not a prohibition. Think of it as a surgery aimed at removing the tumor and thereby saving the patient.”
TikTok, which has 170 million users in the U.S., insisted otherwise, saying it was unclear whether China would approve the sale or it could happen within six months.
“This bill has a predetermined outcome: a complete ban on TikTok in the United States,” the company said after the committee vote. “The government is trying to strip 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression. will destroy the lives of its creators.”
After the committee passed the bill, officials complained that Congress was flooded with calls from TikTok supporters because the app issued notices urging users to oppose the bill.
“Why are members of Congress unhappy about hearing from their constituents? With all due respect, isn’t that their job?” TikTok said on X.
Although the bill was written with TikTok in mind, other Chinese-owned platforms could be affected, including the U.S. operations of Tencent’s WeChat, which President Trump also sought to ban in 2020. Gallagher said he would not speculate on what other effects the bill might have. Although that was a possibility, he said, “We can discuss which companies will be subject to this bill in the future.”
Reuters contributed to this report
