TikTok’s future looks increasingly uncertain as support grows for a new bill that would force the company to sell itself or face a US ban. Now President Joe Biden endorsed the measure a day later cleaned it The first legislative hurdle in the House.
“If they accept, I will sign,” he said CBS News. A bill introduced earlier this week, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Enemies Controlled Apps Act, would give TikTok six months to disavow parent company ByteDance or face an app store-level ban in the US. Meanwhile, House Republicans could bring the bill up for a vote on Wednesday. Semaphore .
TikTok said the bill was a subtle effort to force a “blanket ban.” “This legislation has a preordained consequence: TikTok is completely banned in the United States,” the company said in a statement earlier this week. “The government is trying to take away 170 million Americans’ constitutional right to free speech. It will hurt millions of businesses, lose artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.”
The company also encouraged its millions of users to oppose the measure. Ahead of a committee vote on the bill Thursday, the app sent out push notifications urging users to call their representatives and ask them to oppose the legislation. It is reported that the notices caused Staffers in many congressional offices fielded hundreds of calls from teenagers.
Note that the bill has another famous opponent: former President Donald Trump. Although Trump also tried to use force The former president, who sent TikTok to the US company during his time in office, said he no longer believes in banning the app. “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” he wrote on Truth Social.
While House clearance is a significant milestone for the bill, it’s unclear where the Senate stands. whom Semaphore notes that some prominent senators have been somewhat cautious in their comments about whether they will support the legislation. Several senators at recent Senate hearings on child safety TikTok CEO Shou Chew talks about his nationality (he’s Singaporean), as well as the app’s ties to China and the experiences of its parent company, ByteDance.
