TikTok users could soon find that the popular social media service is either under new ownership or, although it wouldn’t happen immediately, outright banned in the U.S. On Saturday, the House passed legislation that would bar TikTok from operating in the U.S. if the popular platform’s China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake within a year. The bill will next head to the Senate, where it is expected to pass, buoyed by its attachment to a larger foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies that has gained bipartisan support. TikTok has attracted unwanted scrutiny not only for the addictiveness of its constantly scrolling videos, but also due to its Chinese owner, ByteDance. That has raised concerns among lawmakers and security experts that the Chinese government could tap TikTok’s trove of personal data about millions of U.S. users. Meanwhile, TikTok has asked its users to contact their lawmakers to argue against the bill’s passage, an effort that appears to have failed to sway opinions in Washington, D.C., noted Eurasia Group director Clayton Allen. As recently as last week, TikTok was sending push notifications to some of its users urging them to reach out to their lawmakers, saying that the bill could “take away YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to access TikTok.” “It’s a low-cost exercise if you have access to the user base,” Allen told CBS MoneyWatch. “But it seems like it has backfired.” Some lawmakers had argued that TikTok’s ability to send bulk push notifications to its users, many of them minors, underscored the risks of the app. In a statement, TikTok said it is “unfortunate” that lawmakers are “using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy, annually.”
Full report : The TikTok ban was just passed by the House. Here’s what could happen next.
