The popular application among young people around the world is in the sights of Americans. A bill that could lead to the total ban of TikTok in the United States passed a key milestone in the United States Congress on Wednesday. The text, carried by an elected Republican, would give the authority to President Joe Biden to completely ban TikTok. It was adopted in the morning by the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, thanks to the votes of the Republicans alone.
Many U.S. elected officials view the short-form, viral video platform as a national security threat. They fear, along with a growing number of Western governments, that Beijing could access user data around the world through this app, something TikTok has denied for years.
Personal data versus freedom of expression
“Make no mistake, TikTok is a real security threat,” warned Republican Michael McCaul, author of the text. “Anyone who downloaded TikTok onto their device offered the Chinese Communist Party a backdoor to all of their personal information,” he said in a statement. Banning the application would amount to “muzzling the freedom of expression” of millions of Americans, protested in return TikTok, which claims more than a hundred million users in the United States.
To be adopted, the text must now be voted on during a plenary session of the House of Representatives, then of the Senate. Democratic President Joe Biden has the option to veto it. Monday evening, however, the White House has already ordered federal institutions to ensure that TikTok disappears from their smartphones within 30 days, pursuant to a law ratified in early January by Joe Biden.