US Senate Passes Legislation to Force TikTok Sale Under Threat of Ban
The US Senate has approved legislation that would compel TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the popular social media platform within nine months or face a ban in the United States. The move is the culmination of long-standing concerns in Washington over potential Chinese threats and the ownership of TikTok, which is used by 170 million Americans.
The legislation was included as part of a larger $95 billion foreign aid package that provides assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. It passed the Senate with a vote of 79-18 and will now go to President Joe Biden for approval. Biden has previously expressed support for the TikTok proposal and is expected to sign the package.
A decision by House Republicans last week to attach the TikTok bill to the high-priority package helped expedite its passage in Congress. An earlier version of the bill, which gave ByteDance six months to divest its stakes in TikTok, had stalled in the Senate due to skepticism from some key representatives.
The revised legislation extends the deadline, allowing ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok, with a possible three-month extension if a sale is in progress. It also bars the company from controlling TikTok’s secret sauce: the algorithm that feeds users videos based on their interests and has made the platform a trendsetting phenomenon.
TikTok Content Creators Express Concerns
TikTok content creators have voiced their opposition to the legislation, arguing that it could harm their livelihoods. Earlier Tuesday, some creators gathered in front of the Capitol building to speak out against the bill and carry signs that read “I’m 1 of the 170 million Americans on TikTok.”
Tiffany Cianci, a content creator with over 140,000 followers on the platform, said she believes TikTok is the safest platform for users right now because of Project Texas, TikTok’s $1.5 billion mitigation plan to store US user data on servers owned and maintained by the tech giant Oracle.
“If our data is not safe on TikTok,” she said. “I would ask why the president is on TikTok.”
Legal Challenges Expected
TikTok has previously stated that it will file a lawsuit to block the legislation. The company has had some success with court challenges in the past, but it has never sought to prevent federal legislation from going into effect.
Opponents of the bill argue that a comprehensive federal data privacy law that targets all companies regardless of their origin is a better way to protect US consumers. They also note that the US has not provided public evidence showing that TikTok has shared US user information with Chinese authorities or that Chinese officials have ever tinkered with its algorithm.
The passage of the legislation represents a significant escalation in US-China tensions over technology and data privacy. It remains to be seen how the legislation will impact TikTok’s operations in the United States and whether it will face legal challenges that could delay or even prevent its implementation.
