The US House of Representatives is voting on a bill that would require TikTok’s
parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or risk a nationwide ban

By Chris Stokel-Walker
US politicians will vote this week on a bill to ban popular video-sharing app TikTok
unless its owner, technology company ByteDance, sells it.
The US House of Representatives is considering legislation that would require
ByteDance, which has its headquarters in China but is incorporated in the Cayman
Islands, to sell TikTok within six months due to concerns over the company’s links
to China. If the bill is approved, it will need to pass another vote in the US Senate
before it heads to the desk of President Joe Biden, who previously told reporters
he would sign it into law.
While a smaller committee was considering the “Protecting Americans from
Foreign Controlled Applications Act” bill last week, TikTok users received
notifications through the app encouraging them to contact their public
representatives to protest the potential ban. Despite being bombarded with
messages, legislators passed the bill through committee on 7 March, approving it
for a full vote this week.
TikTok enthusiasts are not the only ones to oppose the bill. “The Protecting
Americans from Foreign Controlled Applications Act is censorship, plain and
simple,” says Kate Ruane of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a non-profit
organisation that advocates for digital rights in the US. “It is fundamentally flawed
and will operate, functionally, as a ban on TikTok in the United States.”
Despite such concerns, a cross-party consensus in the US fears China’s ruling
Communist Party could compel TikTok to hand over user data to track behaviour.
Although the app is only one of many online services that collects data about its
users, the US and a number of other countries have classified TikTok as a
“national security threat”, banning the app from being used on government
devices held by public officials. However, no evidence has been presented by any
nation to support those claims.
TikTok, which is run from offices in the US and the UK, among other countries, has
always denied receiving any data-sharing requests from the Chinese government
– and claims it would never hand over users’ information. However, Chinese law
requires all companies operating in the country, including ByteDance, to accede
to government requests.
TikTok itself has previously called the proposed bill contrary to the “First
Amendment rights of 170 million Americans”, the number of app users in the US.
That number also includes many of the politicians deliberating over TikTok’s fate,
including Biden.
Tom Divon at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel says the debate over
the app is “a peculiar dance of advocating for [TikTok’s] shutdown over data
harvesting and surveillance fears – yet capitalising on its vast audience for
campaign gains”. He believes politicians are putting political manoeuvring above
real concerns and risks, such as alienating young voters who are more likely to use
TikTok and increasing distrust in traditional media outlets