A complete ban on the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok is now closer than ever.
Bipartisan legislation could require TikTok to divest from its Chinese owner ByteDance or face an outright ban on app stores across the United States.
ByteDance, which is headquartered in Singapore but owned and controlled by China, has been under scrutiny for several years over concerns that it poses a serious risk to national security and that Beijing uses it for spying purposes.
The legislation, which is described as a move to “protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications, is set for review by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Thursday
“This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” said Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, a co-sponsor of the legislation who heads the House Select Committee on China, according to Reuters. “America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States.”
Lawmakers introduced a bill in Congress on Tuesday that would require China’s ByteDance to divest TikTok in order to avoid a ban of the video app in the U.S. @emrwilkins reports. https://t.co/K0SBLoNtdo pic.twitter.com/XTFwiYRDQq
— CNBC (@CNBC) March 6, 2024
“We implore ByteDance to sell TikTok so that its American users can enjoy their dance videos, their bad lip-sync, everything else that goes along with TikTok,” added Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi. “We ask American users of TikTok to tell ByteDance to sell the platform. And this bill provides the way.”
Posting on the X platform, TikTok framed the bill as an “outright ban” that would damage small businesses across America.
“This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it,” they wrote. “This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs.”
Our statement on the latest TikTok legislation: This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it. This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they…
— TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) March 5, 2024
Even more concerning for TikTok are reports that the White House is planning to support the bill, despite Joe Biden using the application to connect with young people for his presidential campaign.
At a press briefing on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said confirmed that the administration had been involved in the bill and that they “want to see this bill get done so it can get to the President’s desk.”
However, she insisted that the move would not lead to the app being banned altogether, even though that is what will happen unless ByteDance agrees to divest.
“I would have to say, you know, we don’t see this as banning these apps — that’s not what this is — but by ensuring that their ownership isn’t in the hands of those who may do us harm,” she explained. “This is about our national security, obviously, and this is what we’re focused on here.”
