TikTok/Reuters
The American legislature is rapidly promoting legislation that could ban the use of TikTok in the United States - according to a report in the Reuters news agency. The bill, known as the "Protecting Americans from Hostile Foreign Control" Act, would require ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the network The social network within six months - or you will be banned from American app stores and web hosting services in the country, if you do not sever ties with China.
"If they pass the law, I will sign it," Biden told reporters, although he only recently joined the application to promote his election campaign. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said the proposal would come up for a vote next week. Scalise called it a "critical national security law." In a memo released by the US Department of Justice, he detailed the dangers TikTok poses to them, including the "massive amounts of sensitive data" it collects and the potential of the Chinese government to carry out an influence campaign.
According to the Department of Justice, the priority is first to give the government the authority to force ByteDance to disassociate from Tiktok, including its ties to China, rather than to impose an outright ban on the application. As you may recall, national security officials and US lawmakers have warned for years of the potential risks that the app poses, and claimed that it could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread false information.
"If they pass the law, I will sign it," Biden told reporters/Reuters
Meanwhile, the Chinese social network launched an in-app campaign titled "Stop the Shutdown of TikTok," urging users to convince members of Congress to vote against the law.
At the same time, the company claims that it has not and will not share American user information with the Chinese government.
"This legislation has a foregone conclusion: a complete ban on TikTok in the United States," the company said after the vote in the House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee.
"The government is trying to deny 170 million Americans their right to freedom of speech according to the constitution."
In 2020, former President Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok and WeChat (the Chinese Facebook, if you will), but was blocked by the court.
According to him, "TikTok's threatening data collection is a threat and gives the Chinese Communist Party access to the personal and proprietary information of Americans."
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