The bill that might result in the US government outlawing TikTok looks to be getting closer to becoming law. Though the legislation passed the House of Representatives easily last month, several notable senators’ resistance meant the package’s future in the Senate was questionable.
However, there appears to be renewed support for the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.” This weekend, the House will vote on a number of proposals, including a slightly altered version of the TikTok law. Rather than the six months specified in the initial plan, ByteDance would have up to a year to sell TikTok under the most recent version of the bill.
That change, as NBC News notes, was apparently key to winning over support from some skeptical members of the Senate, including Sen. Maria Cantwell, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee. So with the House expected to pass the revised bill Saturday — it’s part of a package that also includes aid to Ukraine and Israel — its path forward is starting to look much more certain, with a Senate vote coming “as early as next week,” according to NBC. President Joe Biden has said he would sign the bill if it’s passed by Congress.
If passed into law, TikTok (and potentially other apps “controlled by a foreign adversary” and deemed to be a national security threat) would face a ban in US app stores if it declined to sell to a new owner. TikTok CEO Shou Chew has suggested the company would likely mount a legal challenge to the law.
“It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy, annually,” TikTok said in a statement.
