Bytedance
Anti-Tiktok law clears first hurdle in Congress: USA could force Chinese owners to sell
The day before the vote, people in Washington DC protested against the planned Tiktok ban
© Annabelle Gordon / Imago Images
Joe Biden’s government is serious: it wants to see the video app Tiktok under American control. A law that has now taken the first step in Congress is intended to pave the way.
A US law that requires a change of ownership of the short video app Tiktok has overcome the first hurdle. The House of Representatives in Washington approved it on Wednesday with a large majority of 352 yes votes. Now it goes to the US Senate, where the positions are still unclear. US President Joe Biden has already made it clear that he would sign the law.
The law could lead to Tiktok being banned from American app stores if the service remains owned by Bytedance. In the USA, this is seen across all parties as a Chinese company that must bow to the will of the Chinese Communist Party.
Tiktok company could go to court
According to a media report, Bytedance is determined to exhaust all legal remedies against an impending ban in the USA before considering a sale. A separation from Tiktok is seen as a last option, the financial service Bloomberg wrote on Tuesday, citing informed people.
According to its own information, Tiktok has 170 million users in the USA. During his term as US President, Donald Trump tried to force a sale of Tiktok’s US business to American investors with threats of a ban.
But the plan failed primarily because US courts suspected the plans for a Tiktok ban to violate the freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution. A current law in the state of Montana that was supposed to ban Tiktok from the app stores there is also on hold.
Biden supports the law
Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan emphasized on Tuesday that it was not about a “Tiktok ban” but about a change of ownership. “Do we want Tiktok as a platform to be owned by an American company – or owned by China?” he asked at a White House press conference. “Do we want Tiktok data – data from children and adults – to stay here in America or go to China?” These are fundamental questions on which Biden has a clear position.
In the USA – as in Europe – there are concerns that the app could be used to collect information about users by Chinese authorities or for political influence. Governments of several countries and the EU Commission banned the use of Tiktok on work cell phones.
China’s Foreign Ministry accused the US of bullying Tiktok on Wednesday. This behavior undermines the international economic and trade order and will ultimately backfire on the USA, said Foreign Office spokesman Wang Wenbin in Beijing. Despite never finding evidence of a threat to national security, Washington never stopped pushing Tiktok out, he continued.
Before Biden took a clear position, the Democrats were very divided when it came to Tiktok: On the one hand, the president wants to take a tough position against China, and on the other hand, the app is popular among young users, whose votes he needs for re-election in November.