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ByteDance warned to divest its controversial social media app or risk a total US ban.
A group of US lawmakers from both sides of the aisle introduced legislation this week that will give TikTok owner ByteDance six months to divest itself of its social media app.
If ByteDance fails to comply, TikTok could be banned completely in the US.
The bill will be voted on before the week is out in the US.
“This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” said Mike Gallagher, the Republican chair of the House of Representatives’ select China committee, in a statement reported by Reuters.
“America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States.”
The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to divest TikTok. If the Chinese-owned company failed, it would be illegal for the app to be hosted on either Google’s or Apple’s app stores. However, the bill will not make the app illegal to use, leaving a loophole for diehard users to exploit.
For its part, ByteDance said the ban could be a First Amendment violation.
“This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it,” a company spokesperson said.
“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.”
The American Civil Liberties Union also considers the proposed bill unconstitutional. According to the ACLU, saying that lawmakers were “attempting to trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points during an election year”.
TikTok has been the subject of multiple bans from use in government agencies around the world due to concerns about possible Chinese Communist Party interference with the app and the user data it collects.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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