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6 months ago
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TikTok would face a ban in the United States unless it severs ties to ByteDance, its parent company that has long face scrutiny and criticism for its connections to the Chinese government, under new legislation proposed by a bipartisan group of House lawmakers.
The bill, introduced today, would prevent app stores or web hosting services from TikTok applications unless it severs ties to ByteDance. The bill also gives the president a process for designating that a social media application under the control of a foreign adversary as a national security risk. ByteDance, based in China, would have about five months to divest its U.S. operations.
The legislation has the backing of Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), the chairman and the ranking member of the House Select Committee on the CCP.
In a statement, Gallagher said, This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users. America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States. TikTok’s time in the United States is over unless it ends its relationship with CCP-controlled ByteDance.”
TikTok said that the bill would violate its free-speech rights. In a statement, the company said, “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 has long denied that it shares data of U.S. users with the Chinese government.
More to come.
