The US House of Representatives approved a bill on Wednesday that would require TikTok to separate from its parent company in China or face a ban in the United States, with the initiative receiving a green light with 352 votes in favor and 65 against. The bill now awaits approval from the Senate and must be ratified by President Joe Biden, who has expressed willingness to sign it into law. In this regard, House Speaker, Republican Mike Johnson, urged the Senate in a statement to approve the bill so that the US President can sign it into law, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not indicate whether he would allow the Upper House to proceed with a full vote.
What Does the TikTok Law Entail?
The proposal was unanimously ratified last Thursday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and, if finally approved by both chambers and the government, would give the Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok’s owner, 180 days to sell the app in the United States. This TikTok law, a platform with 170 million users in the USA, was introduced by Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, who stated in a release that “as long as TikTok is owned by ByteDance, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, it poses a serious threat to US national security.”
Former President Donald Trump attempted to ban TikTok citing the same reason of “national security threat”, although the measure ended up in court and was overturned by current President Joe Biden before taking effect. During that time, ByteDance was negotiating with Microsoft to sell part of the company. Trump now opposes the ban on TikTok, while the White House has supported the legal initiative to ensure that data collected by the social network in the USA does not end up in the hands of China, something that ByteDance has denied happening. All of this is triggered by a 2024 that will bring on November 5th the most important election in the history of that country.
This story was written in Spanish by Miguel Fernandez in Cultura Colectiva News.
