Tucked inside a package of foreign aid was a revised version of the bill that was forwarded to the House.
On Saturday, the House of Representatives of the United States of America passed a bill that has the potential to require the sale of TikTok or to prohibit its use within the country. A revised version of the law, which had previously been approved by the House in March but had since become stuck in the Senate, was included in a foreign aid package this time around, which most likely indicates that it will now be considered a higher priority item. TikTok’s Chinese parent firm, ByteDance, was initially given a period of six months to sell the app if the measure is voted into law; else, TikTok would be prohibited from being sold in app stores in the United States. ByteDance would have up to a year to sell its shares if the new version were to be implemented.
According to the Associated Press, the bill was approved by the House with a vote of 360 to 58. The next step is for it to be transported to the Senate, which may hold a vote on it within the next several days. The majority leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, stated today that the Senate is now working to establish a consensus on when the next vote will take place for the foreign aid package that the TikTok bill is tied to. However, it is anticipated that the vote will take place on Tuesday of this week. In the past, Vice President Joe Biden has stated that he would back the plan in the event that it is passed by Congress.
Because of its connections to China, the bill portrays TikTok as a potential threat to the nation’s security. According to TikTok, there are over 170 million users in the United States who are currently using the app, and it is anticipated that ByteDance would not let them go without a struggle. In a statement that was published on X earlier this week, the TikTok Policy account stated that such a rule would “trample the free speech rights” of these users, “devastate 7 million businesses,” and “close down a platform that contributes $24 billion to the economy of the United States annually.” In addition, opponents of the measure have stated that a ban on TikTok would not significantly improve the level of data protection that would be afforded to the American people.