By a large majority, the House of Representatives approved a measure that, despite ownership by Chinese company ByteDance selling their stake in the well-known app, would make it unlawful to distribute or host TikTok in the United States, so preventing the service from reaching its 170 million American users.
This is the first time an internet app ban has been enacted by Congress. Many American politicians view TikTok as a danger to national security and are concerned that China’s government may demand access to the platform’s user data or use other means to force it to forward its own agenda.
TikTok has stated time and time again that it will not comply with any requests made by the Chinese government and that the government has never made such demands.
In spite of opposition from some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, the “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” was approved by the House on Wednesday morning by a vote of 352-65.
That followed the bill’s expedited passage under a “suspension of the rules” timeline, which called for a two-thirds majority to pass. Despite receiving overwhelming support in the House, it is unknown how the bill will fare in the Senate because no related legislation is presently on the table.
President Biden has stated that he will sign the law should it come across his desk, despite the fact that his campaign for reelection recently started the @bidenhq TikTok account last month on Super Bowl Sunday. In 2022, Biden signed a bill outlawing TikTok on the majority of US government equipment.
The measure is anticipated to encounter legal challenges upon enactment, possibly from TikTok among others. Previous attempts to outlaw TikTok in the United States have so far failed due to First Amendment concerns and the fact that judges have determined that legal challenges have only raised speculative threats to national security rather than providing concrete proof that TikTok has shared any information with Chinese authorities.
Tensions between the United States and China would rise if an American ban against TikTok were implemented. Any forced sale of TikTok would “seriously undermine the confidence of investors from various countries, including China to invest in the United States,” according to Chinese authorities, who also stated that the government would “firmly oppose” any such sale.
The harsh penalties for breaking the TikTok prohibition would be $5,000 compounded by any American user found to have “accessed, maintained, or updated a foreign adversary controlled application.”
Following the vote, a representative for TikTok released a statement saying, “This was a secret process, and the bill was rammed through for one reason: It’s a ban based on zero evidence.” We hope the Senate will take the information into account, pay attention to their constituents, and recognize the effects on the nation’s economy, 7 million small enterprises, and 170 million service users.
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, described the legislative move as “bullying behavior” that “damages the normal international economic and trade order” before to the House vote, according to a BBC report.
