By Adriana Martinez, Melanie Perez, Morgan Barela
March 13, 2024
The immensely popular social media app TikTok is at risk of being banned in the country as it has created national security concerns.
Congress has put this controversial issue back in the media spotlight as the social media app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, poses a threat to the United States. The FBI has shared on multiple occasions that these types of applications can “control” software on millions of devices in the US and at the same time influence and collect data on US users for the Chinese government.
The bill that could ban TikTok nationwide was first introduced in the House on Mar. 5 by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and is known as the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.” It aims to protect the nation’s security from the threat posed by applications controlled by foreign adversaries.
The bill now falls to the Senate, as the House voted to advance the bill Wednesday morning by a vote of 352 to 65, amid pushback from some representatives on both sides. If this bipartisan bill becomes law, it would force ByteDance to sell the video platform within 180 days or face a ban on all US devices.
The bill will now move to the US Senate for a vote, and given the Democratic majority in the upper chamber, TikTok’s fate is uncertain. If it passes the Senate, President Joe Biden has already told reporters that he is committed to signing the bill into law.
“If they pass it, I’ll sign it,” Biden said last Friday.
His opposition to banning the popular social media app was noted by former President Donald Trump, who in 2020, as president, issued an executive order that would do the same with regards to banning TikTok in the country. Trump now says it would be a terrible idea since a move like this would be giving more power and control to Facebook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whom he considers a “true enemy of the people.”
Although TikTok CEO Shous Chew admitted to Congress last year that the app had collected location data from American users in the past, the platform denied allegations of government influence and emphasized that it does not share data on US users with the Chinese government.
Amid this nationwide ban threat TikTok has launched a campaign since the bill was introduced last week. TikTok sent notifications to some users encouraging them to call their representatives and ask them to vote against the bill. The message warns users to “stop TikTok shutdown” in an attempt to get users to influence and stop the potential ban.
It should be noted that the app has become a source of income for many people who are digital creators or entrepreneurs who promote their products. In addition, Tiktok now has a TikTok shop from which many sellers and users benefit.
