US House passes TikTok ban bill

The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a landmark bill that could see TikTok banned in America, reports BBC.

It would give the social media giant’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, six months to sell its controlling stake or the app would be blocked in the US.

The bill passed 352-65 in a bipartisan vote, but it faces a more uncertain path in the Senate where some favor a different approach to regulating foreign-owned apps posing security concerns. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate will review the legislation, reports Reuters.

While the bill passed overwhelmingly in a bipartisan vote, it still needs to clear the Senate and be signed by the president to become law.

Lawmakers have long held concerns about China’s influence over TikTok.

TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, founded in 2012.

The Beijing-based firm is registered in the Cayman Islands, and has offices across Europe and the US.

If the bill does manage to secure approval in the Senate, President Joe Biden has promised to sign it as soon as it lands on his desk, which could prompt a diplomatic spat with China.

ByteDance would have to seek approval from Chinese officials to complete a forced divestiture, which Beijing has vowed to oppose. Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the move would "come back to bite the US".

Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who co-authored the bill, said the US could not "take the risk of having a dominant news platform in America controlled or owned by a company that is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party".

Chinese companies are subject to a national security law requiring them to share data with the government on request.

TikTok has tried to reassure regulators that it has taken steps to ensure the data of its 150 million users in the US has been walled off from ByteDance employees in China.

TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew said the company was committed to keeping its data secure and the platform "free from outside manipulation".

He warned the bill, if passed, would mean a ban on the app in the US, giving "more power to a handful of other social media companies" and putting thousands of American jobs at risk.

However, an investigation by the Wall Street Journal in January found the system was still "porous", with data being unofficially shared between TikTok in the US and ByteDance in China. High-profile cases, including one incident where ByteDance employees in China accessed a journalist's data to track down their sources, have stoked concerns.