On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a bill that would compel ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, to divest the app within approximately six months or risk a ban. The legislation will be subject to “fast-track” rules, necessitating the support of two-thirds of House members for passage, a threshold widely anticipated to be met. The move is prompted by concerns over ByteDance’s potential transfer of personal data from American TikTok users to the Chinese government and its potential to influence political views among U.S. citizens.
The bipartisan bill was written by Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, who heads a House select committee on China, and Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who leads the House Democratic delegation on the panel. They consulted with senior officials in the Biden administration, including Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and top officials at the National Security Council and Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Its prospects in the Senate, however, need to be more precise. The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, has said he will thoroughly review the bill before deciding whether to bring it up for a vote, but his office hasn’t committed to supporting it. It also faces uncertainty over whether it will gain the support of enough Republicans to pass the House, where many lawmakers are worried that a crackdown on TikTok could hurt their constituents and harm the company’s economy.
Some lawmakers, particularly the Congressional Hispanic Caucus members, have also voiced concerns about a possible crackdown on TikTok. Several of them- including Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, a caucus member- voted for the bill in committee, where it passed 50-0. However, the majority of other committee members, including Democrats from areas that are important to the TikTok creator community, voted against it.
The bill, called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, would allow the president, through the FBI and intelligence agencies, to designate apps controlled by foreign adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea as threats that could be banned from online app stores and web hosting services unless the companies severed ties with those entities. TikTok has already warned that the move will be a significant setback for its global growth and will threaten the jobs of tens of thousands of American workers who work in the technology sector.
Activists opposed to the legislation have launched a campaign calling for Congress to reject it. They have created a hashtag on Twitter asking people to contact their congressional representatives. They urge them to ask their representatives to oppose the bill or offer amendments that address their concerns. Several TikTok creators, who have rallied outside the Capitol, oppose the bill. They say it’s unfair to restrict their freedom of speech and that they haven’t provided any evidence that ByteDance is spying on Americans.