The Senate voted to pass a bill on Tuesday that would either ban TikTok or require the app to be sold to its China-based parent company ByteDance before being removed from U.S. app stores. The deadline given for this action is one year.
The vote was overwhelmingly in favor, with 79 senators voting yes and 18 voting no. The bill, included in a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, passed the House with a 360-58 majority on Saturday. The next step is for the bill to reach President Joe Biden, who has indicated his intention to sign it.
Under the new law, ByteDance has one year to sell TikTok to U.S.-based companies, or face a complete ban from U.S. app stores. Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, stated that the company plans to challenge the bill in court. If the law is implemented as is, Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store would need to cease offering TikTok or face penalties.
“We will continue to fight this bill because it is a clear violation of the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans who use TikTok,” he wrote.
Similar to past instances, TikTok has faced legal challenges in the U.S. on grounds of free speech. In 2023, a federal judge in Montana blocked a ban on TikTok, citing violations of user free speech rights. The judge deemed the law as exceeding state authority and infringing on users’ constitutional rights.
The ban’s approval marks the end of longstanding political clashes over TikTok, a platform that has gained immense popularity since its debut in 2017. Former President Donald Trump’s attempted ban in 2020 was unsuccessful, and he recently criticized the possibility of a ban, shifting the responsibility to President Biden. Allegations have been made by lawmakers that TikTok’s Chinese parent company collects sensitive user data and potentially censors content against the Chinese government, claims refuted by TikTok. Congressional hearings have scrutinized TikTok’s data privacy practices.
Despite these concerns, TikTok has faced bans in various educational institutions, government offices, and states. In 2020, India banned TikTok following dangerous challenges that resulted in user fatalities, and the app is not accessible in China itself.
Source: www.theguardian.com
