The House is advancing a bill that may lead to TikTok being unavailable in the U.S.
TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. would be required to divest TikTok within 180 days.
Driving the news: Bipartisan lawmakers voted 50-0 in the Energy and Commerce committee on Thursday to advance the bill, which has the support of House Speaker Mike Johnson.
- Lawmakers argue that TikTok could be used for surveillance and misinformation, potentially compromising national security given its involvement with China.
- The White House has been involved in the drafting of the bill, but further work is needed before President Joe Biden endorses it.
The other side: TikTok has raised concerns about the bill infringing on First Amendment rights and harming businesses, claiming it’s essentially a ban on the app.
- “This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it. This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs,” TikTok said in a statement.
