21-4-2024 (WASHINGTON) TikTok’s future in the United States hangs in the balance after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Saturday (Apr 20) demanding the wildly popular video-sharing app sever ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or risk being barred from operating in the American market.
The bipartisan Bill, which sailed through the House by a staggering 360-58 margin, reflects mounting concerns among US and Western officials over TikTok’s alleged potential for enabling Chinese surveillance and disseminating propaganda to its 170 million American users, many of them youngsters.
While Beijing and ByteDance have vehemently denied such allegations, the proposed measure aims to force ByteDance to relinquish ownership of TikTok within a year, failing which the app could be expelled from US app stores run by Apple and Google.
President Joe Biden, who reiterated his misgivings about TikTok during a recent call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, has signaled his intent to sign the legislation into law should it clear the Senate next week.
TikTok was swift to condemn the House vote, lamenting in a statement that the Bill “would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the US economy annually.”
The company argued that the proposed ban is a thinly veiled attempt to stifle competition, embedded within a broader bill providing aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
The Bill grants the US president sweeping authority to designate any apps controlled by hostile nations as potential national security threats, setting the stage for further crackdowns beyond TikTok.
However, critics argue that an outright ban could prompt legal challenges on grounds of curtailing free expression – a concern echoed by Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X (formerly Twitter), who voiced opposition to such a move despite its potential benefits for his platform.
