House Passes Bill to Force TikTok Sale From Chinese Owner or Ban the App

 

With wide bipartisan backing, the House on Wednesday passed a bill that would require the Chinese owner of TikTok to either sell the immensely popular video app or face being banned in the US.

This action intensifies a power struggle between Beijing and Washington over a plethora of technologies that have the potential to impact social media, free speech, and national security.

With little discussion, Republican leaders pushed the bill through the House quickly and decisively, passing it by a lopsided vote of 352 to 65, demonstrating the broad support for legislation that would directly target China during an election year.

The move was made in spite of TikTok’s attempts to rally its 170 million American users against the legislation, as well as the Biden administration’s efforts to convince lawmakers that Chinese ownership of the platform presents serious national security threats to the US, including the potential for election meddling.

As a result, a bipartisan coalition came together in support of the law, which comprised Democrats and Republicans who agreed to support a bill that President Biden has promised to sign despite opposition from former President Donald J. Trump.

The majority leader in the Senate, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, has shown little commitment to moving the bill to a vote, and a number of senators have sworn to oppose it. As a result, the bill is unlikely to succeed. Furthermore, there will probably be legal challenges even if it passes the Senate and becomes a law.

However, the decision on Wednesday marked the first time that the

entire Congress has passed a bill that may outright forbid users of TikTok. Since 2020, the app has been in danger due to politicians’ growing claims that Beijing poses a national security concern because of its association with ByteDance, the firm that owns TikTok. Within six months, ByteDance is supposed to sell TikTok to non-Chinese owners, according to the bill. If the transaction satisfied issues related to national security, the president would approve it. Should that deal fall through, the app would be removed.

Prior to the vote, Wisconsin Republican Representative Mike Gallagher stated on the floor that the bill “forces TikTok to break up with the Chinese Communist Party.”

He declared, “This is a common-sense precaution to safeguard our national security.”

 

In a statement, Alex Haurek, a representative for TikTok, claimed that the House “process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: It’s a ban.”

He went on, “We hope the Senate will take the information into consideration, pay attention to their people, and understand the impact on the economy — seven million small companies — and the 170 million Americans who utilize our service.

Prior to the House vote on Wednesday, Beijing denied the idea that TikTok posed a threat to the US and denounced the drive by US lawmakers. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin charged Washington with “resorting to hegemonic moves when one could not succeed in fair competition” during a regular press conference.

A cold war between the United States and China over the control of numerous crucial technology, such as semiconductors, electric cars, and solar panels, would probably intensify if the measure were to become law.

Mr. Biden has placed restrictions on the way American financial institutions can participate in Chinese businesses. He has also limited the transfer of sensitive personal information about Americans, like as location and health status, to data brokers who may then sell it to China. China has blocked websites like Facebook and YouTube, and Beijing declared last year that it will not support the sale of TikTok.

TikTok has stated that no government can affect the company’s recommendation model and that it has taken tremendous efforts to safeguard user data from Americans and to allow independent scrutiny of the platform. In addition, it has refuted two of the concerns raised by lawmakers: that Beijing has not utilized TikTok to gather user data from Americans or to sway their opinions.

“This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States,” the internet company TikTok stated last week, urging users to phone their lawmakers in opposition of the measure. This was an unusually bold effort.

TikTok has invested over $1 billion in Project Texas, a comprehensive plan designed to manage sensitive user data from the United States in a manner distinct from the company’s other businesses. For a number of years, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, has been reviewing that plan.

Last week, Mr. Gallagher and Illinois Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, two of the bill’s sponsors, stated that the reason Congress was taking action was because CFIUS “hasn’t solved the problem.”

It is extremely uncommon for a bill to have strong bipartisan support while yet dividing the two parties. Despite the fact that key House leaders including Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the second-ranking Democrat in the House, voted against the bill, President Biden has stated that he would sign it into law. Although several of Mr. Trump’s most steadfast allies in the House, including Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 4 Republican in the House, voted in favor of the bill, Mr. Trump claimed to be against it.

With a distinct coalition supporting and opposing the bill, the vote ultimately descended into something of a free-for-all. Hard-right Republicans such as Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas and California Democrat Representative Nancy Pelosi nodded in agreement as they explained why they supported the bill in the chamber. She once stood up to speak with Representative Chip Roy, a hard-right Republican from Texas who had strongly backed the bill on the floor, and crossed over to the Republican side of the chamber.

A number of Democrats and Republicans voiced their opposition to the law, citing TikTok’s popularity in the US and worries about free expression. Legal experts have stated that the bill would likely be subject to First Amendment scrutiny in the courts if it were to become law.

On Tuesday, Florida Democratic Representative Maxwell Frost declared, “not only am I no, but I’m a hell no.” He claimed that the First Amendment was violated by the law. “I frequently hear from students who rely on TikTok content creators to provide them with accurate information about historical events in our nation.” Although he expressed concern over the data of Americans, he stated that “this bill does not fix that problem.”

 

After a contentious session with TikTok CEO Shou Chew last year, legislation to control the app was not passed despite backing from both parties. However, since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, MPs’ concerns have intensified even further. A number of them have stated that TikTok’s content recommendations could be used to spread false information.

“There were several events that transpired during that time, such as the viral spread of Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” on TikTok and the platform’s persistent display of content that is markedly different from other social media platforms,” Mr. Krishnamoorthi stated in an interview.

Additionally, there’s a potential that the plan would fail in a new administration even if it is signed into law and makes it through legal challenges. Over the past week, Mr. Trump has openly changed his stance on TikTok. In 2020, he attempted to ban the app or force its sale. During a Monday television appearance, Mr. Trump claimed that although the app posed a threat to national security, blocking it would benefit Facebook, which he had previously criticized.

He claimed that many young children on TikTok would go insane without it.

If ByteDance did not sell its stake in the app, Mr. Trump’s administration has threatened to remove TikTok from American app shops. ByteDance even appeared prepared to sell Walmart and Oracle, whose executives were close to Mr. Trump, a portion of the program.

It was a botched job in federal court. The proposed ban by Mr. Trump was blocked from going into effect by several judges.

The Biden administration has attempted to address the issue through legislation. The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, stated at a conference last week that the White House gave Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Krishnamoorthi “technical assistance” as they were drafting their bill. A National Security Council spokeswoman swiftly hailed the bill’s introduction as “an important and welcome step to address” the threat posed by technology that jeopardizes the sensitive data of Americans.

National security officials from the administration have visited Capitol Hill on multiple occasions to argue in private for the legislation and issue severe alerts regarding the dangers associated with TikTok’s existing ownership. Prior to the bill’s 50 to 0 committee vote last week that sent it to the entire House, the White House informed legislators.

In a confidential briefing on Tuesday, representatives from the Justice Department, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation discussed TikTok-related national security issues with lawmakers.

A bill to outlaw TikTok was previously proposed by Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Given that “the framers intended citizens to serve in Congress for a season and then return to their private lives,” Mr. Gallagher’s latest bill is seen as a sort of last stand against the firm. Mr. Gallagher recently announced he would not seek reelection a fifth time.