TikTok Closer to Potential U.S. Ban as House Passes Bill Requiring Sale

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved legislation that would force TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media network or face a ban in the United States. The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act will now go to the Senate, where its fate is unclear.

tiktok logo
U.S. lawmakers want TikTok to be sold to a company outside of China due to concerns that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over data from users located in the United States. If China made the request, ByteDance would not be able to refuse. There have also been suggestions that China could use TikTok to spread political propaganda.

ByteDance has attempted to alleviate these fears by storing data from U.S. users on servers owned by Oracle, but the White House and lawmakers do not believe that is enough.

If passed, the bill would require ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months to a company approved by the U.S. government. Should ByteDance not sell the company, U.S. app stores would not be able to distribute the app without breaking the law, effectively leading to a ban. China would also need to approve the sale, and the Chinese government made it clear last year that it would "firmly oppose" a forced sale.

There are a limited number of companies with enough capital to be able to afford TikTok, and the obvious choices, such as Google or Meta, would likely be barred from acquiring it due to antitrust concerns.

Should the bill make it through the Senate, U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed that he would sign it into law. A number of senators have expressed worries about the wording of the act, and it does not have universal support at this time.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: TikTok

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Top Rated Comments

dannyyankou Avatar
13 months ago
I couldn't care less about the China ties, but TikTok in general is bad for society.
Score: 46 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roar08 Avatar
13 months ago
Should we ban other platforms that spread misinformation and contribute to election interference through bad actors?
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
magicschoolbus Avatar
13 months ago
Please ban this nonsense. It's clear that China wants data on Americans and our mobile infrastructure.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
delsoul Avatar
13 months ago
I avoid tik tok like it’s the plague, but government censoring more media platforms is no better than Google and Zuckerberg constantly censoring people on their YouTube and Facebook platforms. If people want to be act like a fool for a dollar/euro/yen etc on too tik tok then let them. Strange how the government is concerned about the CCP stealing users information, but the US gov themselves have zero qualms of doing the same. It’s only a problem because it’s someone else doing it.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
13 months ago

Why TikTok specifically? Aren't Meta Reels and YT Shorts equally as bad?
Well, TikTok started the trend.

I just don't like this culture where everyone is trying to be a celebrity. And they'll go to extremes no matter how stupid or foolish to try to get attention.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Agent OrangeZ Avatar
13 months ago

I couldn't care less about the China ties, but TikTok in general is bad for society.
Why TikTok specifically? Aren't Meta Reels and YT Shorts equally as bad?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)