US: The way to ban TikTok opens

The House of Representatives of the US yesterday voted in favor of a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok, a major challenge to one of the world’s most popular social media apps – and could put Washington on a new collision course with Beijing. TikTok is now under threat of being banned from Apple and Google’s US app stores unless the social media platform splits from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, within six months.

The legislation (Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act) will then have to go to the Senate for a vote, which is uncertain. But if it passes even there, the White House has said that President Joe Biden will sign it to become official US law.

Under the bill, China’s ByteDance would have six months to sell the popular social networking app TikTok to another company, or the app would be banned in the US. This is because Washington is concerned about the country’s national security because the app is controlled by Chinese interests. TikTok says it has not shared, and will not share in the future with China, data of its US users.

The bill is the first major such move in nearly a year to ban TikTok’s use in the US or force parent ByteDance to divest the popular app. A similar effort was made last year but stalled in Congress as TikTok lobbyists intervened.

TikTok is used by more than 170 million Americans after it was launched in 2016 and has become a hugely popular app. US users spend a significant amount of time on TikTok – an average of 60 to 80 minutes a day compared to about 30-40 minutes on main competitor Instagram, according to data from research firms.

US intelligence officials have warned that TikTok has become a tool of the Chinese government, which could be used to undermine US democracy. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned just days ago that the app could be used to cause problems in November’s presidential election.

Beijing has the power under the country’s national security laws to compel TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, to hand over access to US user data at any time if requested by the Chinese government. A ban in the US would make the app inaccessible there from the Apple and Google app stores. The bill would not authorize the imposition of penalties on individual users.

“This bill is a complete ban on TikTok, no matter how much the authors (of the bill) try to cover it up,” a spokesperson for the company said on Tuesday.

“This legislation will encroach on Article One rights for 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs,” the company argued. A spokesman for the White House National Security Council called the bill an important and welcome step, adding that the Biden administration will work with Congress to further strengthen this legislation and put it “on the strongest possible legal footing,” it said.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the bill unconstitutional, citing pre-election exploitation of the case. The US is heading to a presidential election in November.

China itself has warned that a proposed ban on TikTok would cause problems in the US. Ahead of the vote in the House of Representatives, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry accused Washington of wanting to “suppress TikTok,” he said, despite the fact that the U.S. “has never found evidence that TikTok threatens national security,” he added .

“This kind of bullying behavior that cannot win in fair conditions for competition disrupts the normal business activity of companies, damages the confidence of international investors in the investment environment and harms the international economic and trade order,” the statement said.