Is a ban coming for TikTok? New law to be voted on

12PUNTO FOREIGN NEWS

TikTok is facing difficult days in the US. On Tuesday or Wednesday, the US House of Representatives plans to vote on a bill that could force ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the video-sharing platform, or face a ban in the US if it fails to do so.

Last Thursday, The bill, known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed the first round of voting in the House Energy and Commerce Committee with a 50-0 vote.

Following the vote, the company "This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States. The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression" stated.

The sponsors of the bill say the goal is to 'protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary-controlled applications.'

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stated that this move 'represents an attempt to score cheap political points during an election year.' The ACLU also notes that many Americans rely on TikTok for information and communication.

According to Bloomberg Opinion columnist Karishma Vaswani, Washington should acknowledge that this is as much about a lack of technological innovation as it is about national security.

Vaswani wrote in her column, "Domestic technology has failed to keep pace with the kind of innovation developed by Chinese firms, and that is why this app has become so popular" she wrote.

Before the bill becomes law, it must be voted on in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and then be approved by the President.

President Joe Biden said last Friday that he would sign the bill after his rival Donald Trump expressed his concerns regarding the banning of the service.

Previously, TikTok had sent a notification to all its users asking them to call their congressional representatives to express their dissatisfaction with the law. Some TikTok users who were unhappy with the bill had sent messages to the offices of congressional representatives.

TikTok's social media platform on X in a statement regarding the bill "No matter how much the authors (of the bill) try to hide it, (this bill) is a direct ban. This law will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs" were the expressions used.

Proponents of the bill reject the claim that it amounts to an outright ban on TikTok, noting that ByteDance has been given approximately six months to comply with the regulations.

In 2020, Trump sought to ban TikTok and the Chinese-owned WeChat, but those efforts were halted by court rulings.

News Source: 12punto