To continue operating, the platform will need to separate itself from the Chinese ByteDance and find a North American buyer
The United States Senate approved on Tuesday night (April 23, 2024) the bill that bans TikTok in the country if the platform is not regionally controlled by a North American businessman. The measure should be sanctioned by President Joe Biden this Wednesday (April 24). The information is from Reuters.
In practice, Chinese technology company ByteDance has a period of 12 months to sell its holdings in the United States to a local operator.
The decision was driven by suspicion among US authorities that China was using the platform to access the data of Americans and monitor them. On Monday (April 22), ByteDance had already repudiated any type of veto on TikTok in the country and said it will contest the decision.
“We will continue to fight as this legislation is a clear violation of the 1st Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans on TikTok”wrote Michael Beckerman, head of Public Policy at TikTok in the United States.
The same argument has previously been used by the platform to win a court case. In 2023, a Montana state district judge blocked a state ban on the app’s use. He stated that the determination violated users’ right to freedom of expression.
In March, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on the measure. He said that the US insists on persecuting TikTok, despite “never found any evidence that the platform poses a threat to national security”.
The bans on technological platforms, however, do not only occur on the North American side. Last week, Apple stated that the Chinese government ordered the removal of Meta Platforms, WhatsApp and Threads from the Apple Store in China, alleging risks to national security.
