US House of Representatives passes law to ban TikTok

AREQUIPA, Peru – The United States House of Representatives approved this Wednesday, with 352 votes in favor and 65 against, a bipartisan bill to prohibit the use of the social network Tik Tok, unless it ends relations with its home parent company ByteDance and in general with China.

The legislators point out that the Data collected by TikTok could be useful to China to affect national security, by identifying intelligence targets or participating in disinformation campaigns.

The measure aims to encourage TikTok’s parent company to sell the platform amid accusations that it has a direct relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The legislative initiative is so far the biggest threat facing the video-sharing application, which is very popular around the world, especially among young people.

Looking ahead to the next step, its fate in the US Senate is uncertain, as key figures oppose taking such a radical measure against the famous application. However, if the process finds support there, then President Joe Biden would have to sign the law.

Biden will promulgate the rule, officially known as the “Protecting Americans from Requests Controlled by Foreign Rivals Act,” once it is approved in both legislative chambers, the White House has already announced.

Then TikTok would have about five months to sell ByteDance, the company that is accused of having ties to the CCP.

The rule would also give the president power to designate other applications as a threat to national security if they are under the control of a country adverse to the United States.

According to the newspaper The opinionDemocratic Senator Mark Warner (Virginia) and Republican Marco Rubio (Florida), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and ranking member, respectively, expressed their support for the law approved in the House.

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