TikTok closer to US ban as crackdown bill approved
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The news: The US House Energy and Commerce committee has unanimously approved legislation giving China's ByteDance six months to divest from video app TikTok or face a US ban.
The numbers: The 50-0 vote represents a major step towards a US crackdown on TikTok, which has around 170 million US users. The decision gives ByteDance 165 days to divest, or it will be blocked from the app store and web hosting platforms in the US.
The context: This is the latest attempt by US lawmakers to place restriction on the app, after senators introduced legislation to block the app last year. In November 2023 a US judge blocked Montana's first-of-its-kind state ban on TikTok, ruling that it violated the free speech rights of users.
Former president Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok completely in 2020, though the move was also blocked by US courts. Meanwhile, president Joe Biden's re-election campaign joined TikTok last month.
Before the latest vote, which may see the bill taken to the US House of Representatives in the next few weeks, lawmakers received a classified briefing on national security concerns about TikTok's Chinese ownership.
What they said: "This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States," ByteDance said after the vote. "The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression. This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country."
The top Democrat on the committee, Frank Pallone, said his hope was the law "will force divestment of TikTok and Americans will be able to continue to use this and other similarly situated platforms without the risk that they are being operated and controlled by our adversaries."
The Republican chair of the House select China committee, Mike Gallagher, said: "TikTok could live on and people could do whatever they want on it provided there is that separation".
"It is not a ban — think of this as a surgery designed to remove the tumour and thereby save the patient in the process," he said.
The source: Reuters
