U.S. passes a ban bill for TikTok with 360 to 58

Headline

TikTok reiterated its concerns on Sunday regarding free speech in response to a bill enacted by the House of Representatives that would have prohibited the popular social media app in the United States if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, did not sell its stake within a year. About…

Context

TikTok reiterated its concerns on Sunday regarding free speech in response to a bill enacted by the House of Representatives that would have prohibited the popular social media app in the United States if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, did not sell its stake within a year. By a vote of 360 to 58, the House of Representatives approved the legislation on Saturday. The Senate will now consider it, and in the upcoming days, a vote on it may be held.

Evidence

Pending intelligence enrichment.

Analysis

TikTok is a national security risk, according to numerous Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the United States as well as the Biden administration, since China may force the company to share the data of its 170 million American users. The move to incorporate TikTok into a larger foreign aid package could expedite the possibility of a ban following the Senate’s inaction on a previous bill. The House decided on March 13 to impose a six-month deadline on ByteDance to sell off its U.S. assets from TikTok or risk being banned. Although the legislation that was passed on Saturday sets a nine-month deadline, the president can extend it by an additional three months to assess the status of the sale. In a statement, TikTok expressed regret that the House is once again trying to push through a ban bill that would violate the free speech rights of 170 million Americans under the guise of crucial foreign and humanitarian aid.

Key Points

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would offer TikTok a crackdown, the popular social media app in the U.S. if Chinese owner ByteDance did not sell its stake within a year.
TikTok claims this ban bill would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans.
The latest bill could be regarded as “no real payoff,” because China and other U.S. rivals could still buy Americans’ data from brokers in the open market and engage in disinformation campaigns using U.S.-based social media platforms.