The United States Senate has approved legislation that would compel TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its ownership of the social media platform within nine months, with a potential three-month extension if a sale is in progress. The bill was incorporated into a broader $95 billion package that provides financial aid to Ukraine and Israel. The legislation passed with a margin of 79-18 and will now be forwarded to President Joe Biden, who has expressed support for the TikTok proposal and has promised to sign the package promptly.
The move to attach the TikTok provision to the high-priority aid package was made by House Republicans, and it helped expedite the measure’s passage in Congress. The decision was reached after negotiations with the Senate, where an earlier version of the bill had stalled. The previous version would have given ByteDance just six months to dispose of its TikTok interests, a timeframe that was deemed insufficient by some key lawmakers for such a complex transaction, which could be valued in the tens of billions of dollars. The revised legislation extends this deadline, granting ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok and allowing for an additional three-month extension if a sale is underway. Notably, the bill also prohibits the company from retaining control over TikTok’s key feature, its algorithm, which personalizes video recommendations for users based on their preferences and has been a major factor in the platform’s popularity.
The passage of this legislation is a culmination of long-held bipartisan concerns in Washington regarding the potential threats posed by China and the ownership of TikTok, which has amassed over 170 million users in the United States. Lawmakers and government officials have consistently expressed apprehension that Chinese authorities could compel ByteDance to surrender U.S. user data or exert influence over Americans by manipulating or suppressing content on TikTok.
Senator Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, emphasized that the legislation is not intended to punish ByteDance, TikTok, or any other individual entity. Instead, she stressed that its purpose is to safeguard against espionage, surveillance, and malicious operations by foreign adversaries that could harm vulnerable Americans, service members, and government personnel.
However, opponents of the bill argue that the Chinese government could readily obtain information about Americans through other means, such as commercial data brokers that traffic in personal data. The foreign aid package includes a provision that criminalizes the sale or rental of “personally identifiable sensitive data” to North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, or entities within those countries by data brokers. However, the provision has drawn criticism, including from the American Civil Liberties Union, which contends that its broad language could inadvertently ensnare journalists and others who publish personal information.
Many who oppose the TikTok measures contend that the most effective way to safeguard U.S. consumers is through a comprehensive federal data privacy law that applies to all companies, regardless of their origin. Additionally, they emphasize the absence of public evidence demonstrating that TikTok has shared U.S. user information with Chinese authorities or that Chinese officials have tampered with its algorithm.
China has previously stated its opposition to a forced sale of TikTok and has indicated its continued disapproval. TikTok, which has consistently denied posing a security risk, is also preparing a lawsuit to challenge the legislation. Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, stated in a memo to employees that the company will take legal action once the bill is signed. Beckerman characterized the legislation as “the beginning, not the end of this lengthy process.”
In the past, TikTok has achieved some success in court challenges, although it has never attempted to prevent federal legislation from taking effect. In November, a federal judge blocked a Montana law that would have prohibited TikTok use within the state after the company and five content creators who utilized the platform filed a lawsuit. Similarly, three years prior, federal courts had prevented an executive order issued by then-President Donald Trump that sought to ban TikTok after the company contested the order on the grounds that it violated free speech and due process rights.
During his previous term, President Trump brokered a deal involving U.S. corporations Oracle and Walmart, granting them a significant share in TikTok. However, that sale did not materialize. Trump, who is running for president again this year, now opposes the proposed ban.
Meanwhile, TikTok content creators who rely on the platform for their livelihood have been actively voicing their concerns. On Tuesday, several creators gathered outside the Capitol building to protest the bill, holding signs that read, “I’m 1 of the 170 million Americans on TikTok” and conveying similar messages. One of the organizers, Tiffany Cianci, a content creator with over 140,000 followers on the platform, expressed her belief that TikTok is currently the safest platform for users due to Project Texas, TikTok’s $1.5 billion mitigation plan to store U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by tech giant Oracle. She pointedly asked, “If our data is not secure on TikTok, why is the President on TikTok?”
Mary Clare Jalonick and Matt O’Brien, Associated Press writers, contributed to this report.
