USA government could ban TikTok nationwide

The US House of Representatives has passed a groundbreaking bill aimed at potentially banning TikTok from operating in the country. Under the proposed legislation, ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, would be given a six-month window to sell its controlling stake in the app. Failure to do so would result in the app being blocked in the US.

Despite enjoying widespread bipartisan support in the House, the bill still needs to clear the Senate and receive the president’s signature to become law. Lawmakers have long voiced concerns about China’s influence over TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, a company founded in 2012.

Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who co-authored the bill, said the US could not “take the risk of having a dominant news platform in America controlled or owned by a company that is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party”.

TikTok has sought to reassure regulators by asserting that it has implemented measures to safeguard the data of its 150 million US users from ByteDance employees in China.

TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, emphasized the company’s dedication to maintaining data security and ensuring the platform remains “immune from external manipulation.”

He cautioned that the passage of the bill would result in a ban on the app in the US, granting “increased authority to a few other social media companies” and jeopardizing thousands of American jobs.

Nonetheless, a Wall Street Journal investigation in January uncovered that the system remained “vulnerable,” with data being informally exchanged between TikTok in the US and ByteDance in China. Notable instances, such as one where ByteDance employees in China accessed a journalist’s data to trace their sources, have fueled apprehensions.

Following the vote, TikTok seemed to revive its efforts to encourage users to engage with Congress, issuing another notification prompting them to reach out to their representatives.

The spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry remarked, “Despite the absence of evidence from the United States indicating that TikTok poses a threat to US national security, the relentless suppression of TikTok continues. Such bullying tactics, which fail to succeed in fair competition, disrupt the normal business operations of companies, undermine international investors’ confidence in the investment climate, and disrupt the standard international economic and trade framework.”

However, White House Spokesperson Karine Jean Pierre maintained that the bill aimed solely to guarantee that ownership of significant technology platforms operating within the US “would not fall into the hands of those who could manipulate them”.