Update (04/24/24) – JB
After approval by a large majority in the Chamber, the draft law that could ban TikTok in the United States was approved by the Senate from the country.
As a result, ByteDance, the social network’s controller, needs to sell the application to an American company or it will be completely banned within a year.
There were 79 votes in favor of the law and 18 against, with President Joe Biden promising to sanction the project today in a ceremony to be held at the White House.
Commenting on the matter, Senator Marcu Rubio, president of the Senate intelligence committee, celebrated the measure.
For years, we allowed the Chinese Communist Party to control one of the most popular apps in the United States, which was dangerously shortsighted. This new law will require its Chinese owner to sell the application. This is a good move for America.
Currently, TikTok has 170 million users in the US and the platform promises to challenge the law using the First Amendment as a justification, as the ban violates Americans’ “freedom of expression.”
This is the beginning and not the end of a long process – said TikTok.
The American Civil Liberties Union said that the approval of this law is alarming.
The law will set an alarming global precedent for excessive government control over social media platforms. If the United States now bans a foreign-owned platform, it will invite other countries to imitate the move.
Rumors
22 Apr
Releases
18 Apr
Original text (04/22/24)
US Bill Could Ban TikTok Soon
The United States took a new step with a bill that could ban TikTok from existing in North American territory. The new text was voted and approved after being included in the foreign aid package aimed at helping allied countries at war and implementing more sanctions against other adversaries, such as Russia.
The project received 360 votes in favor and 58 against during its vote that took place this past Saturday (04/20). This updated text now requires ByteDance, a company based in China and owner of TikTok, to sell the rights to the social network to a North American company in a 12 month period. Previously, this period was 6 months.
Through X (formerly Twitter), TikTok posted a brief statement about its dissatisfaction with the possibility of having the application banned in the country and took the opportunity to highlight how it moves, annually, around US$24 billion for the United States economy.
The author of the bill is Texas Republican “Michael McCaul”. According to McCaul, he will protect Americans, especially children, from the “malign influence of Chinese propaganda.”
Politicians critical of the Chinese app believe that ByteDance can collect and deliver private data from American users and that the app can censor videos that criticize the Chinese government.
ByteDance denies the accusations and explains that it has never delivered or will deliver its users’ data to the Chinese government as it is a completely independent platform with its own leadership team, such as: a CEO located in Singapore, a COO in the US and a chief global trust and safety in Ireland.
If approved in Congress, the project must go to President Joe Biden, who must sanction it. Biden has expressed his support before and even stated that he would approve it when it arrived. Not a very good moment for a company that has already planned launch a rival to Instagram.
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