The US House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously (50 votes to 0) supported a bill that would require the Chinese company ByteDance to either get rid of the TikTok app or face a US ban. The House of Representatives is scheduled to take up the Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act next week.
TikTok has about 170 million users in the US. In 2020, President Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to ban the app. Before the committee vote, lawmakers received a closed-door, classified briefing on the national security implications of China-owned TikTok.
ByteDance doesn’t seem to be going to sell TikTok:
“This law has a specific outcome in mind: a complete ban on TikTok in the United States. The government is trying to strip 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression. This will cause losses to millions of businesses, deprive artists of access to audiences, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country,” the company said after the vote.
Republican congressman Mike Gallagher, the chairman of the House Committee on China, believes that it would be appropriate to sell TikTok.
“TikTok could continue to live and people could do whatever they want with it under the condition of such a separation. This is not a prohibition – see it as an operation aimed at removing the tumor and saving the patient.”
US President Joe Biden is going to sign the law if Congress supports it.
“As soon as … it can get out of Congress, then the president will sign it. But we have to keep working on it,” White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said.
Congressmen of both parties spoke in the American press about the bill and are inclined to support it, Donald Trump also spoke in favor of it: “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and “Zuckerschmuck” will double their business.” He also called the Chinese service a real enemy of the people.
Users spent $10 billion on TikTok – more are bought only in mobile games
Sources: Reuters, CBS
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