On Saturday, the House advanced a bill that would result in TikTok being banned in the United States.
The bill would make ByteDance, the company’s Chinese owner, sell the company to an American owner within a year or be banned domestically.
To speed up the process of the bill passing, House Speaker Mike Johnson put it together with a bill that would let the U.S. seize Russian assets. He then placed it in a package that had aid bills for Taiwan, Israel, and Ukraine. All of the measures have been delayed as there have been congressional conflicts.
In a few days, the measure will go to the Senate where it is expected to pass.
For many years, American lawmakers have discussed security concerns in connection to TikTok. This is because ByteDance is required to provide data to the Chinese government. It is noted that about 170 million Americans, alone, have TikTok accounts.
President Biden has already alluded to signing the bill next week if it passes the Senate. It is also expected that when that does occur, ByteDance will challenge the decision in court. Lawsuits could also be filed by TikTok users and creators.
