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Uncertainty about the future of TikTok, one of the world’s most popular online platforms, in the USA continues to increase. Support is growing for a bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok or ban the platform in the United States. Finally, US President Joe Biden also made a statement to support this measure.
Biden stated that he would sign the law if it is approved by the US House of Representatives. The bill called “Protecting Americans from Foreign Enemy-Controlled Practices Act” was presented to the US House of Representatives last week. Within the scope of the bill, TikTok is given six months to separate itself from its parent company ByteDance, and it is stated that if this sale does not occur, TikTok may face a ban on the scale of application stores in the USA. According to Semafor, Republican members of the US House of Representatives may put the bill to vote as of next Wednesday.
TikTok has stated that the bill is a thinly veiled effort to force a “total ban” of its app. The statement made by the company on the subject last week included the following statements: “This law has a predetermined result: TikTok’s complete ban in the USA. The government is trying to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free speech. “This will harm millions of businesses, deprive artists of audiences, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.”
The company also encouraged its millions of users to oppose the measure. On Thursday, ahead of a committee vote on the bill, the app sent push notifications asking users to call their representatives and oppose the bill. Notifications reportedly jammed lines in many Congressional offices as staffers received hundreds of calls from young people.
The most notable name among those who oppose the bill is former US President Donald Trump. Trump, who himself tried to sell TikTok while he was in office, no longer believes that the application should be banned. Sharing about the issue on his Truth Social platform, the US President said, “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckeridiot (he referred to Mark Zuckerberg this way) will double their business.”
Support from Joe Biden does not guarantee Senate support
Although the bill, which was given the green light by Joe Biden, passed the US House of Representatives, it remains unclear what attitude the US Senate, the upper legislative body, will follow. According to Semafor, some leading senators are cautious in their comments on whether they will support the law. At a recent Senate hearing on child safety, several senators pressed TikTok CEO Shou Chew about his own citizenship (he is Singaporean) as well as the app’s ties to China and the practices of parent company ByteDance.