The
United
States
House of Representatives
gave
half-sanction
this Wednesday to a bill that could
ban TikTok
in the country if the social network does not
cut its ties
with its parent company,
ByteDance
, and with
China
in general.
A total of
352 legislators voted in favor
of the proposal and
65 against
, in a rare moment of unity between Democrats and Republicans in the middle of the electoral campaign.
The legislative initiative is so far the
biggest threat
facing the video-sharing application, which is very popular around the world, especially among young people.
Because it has a Chinese parent company, TikTok is a concern for the White House, which believes that
the platform allows Beijing to spy on and manipulate
some
170 million users in the United States
.
Now, the project will go to the
Senate
, where its fate is
uncertain
: key figures in the upper house
oppose taking such a drastic measure
against the popular application.
In any case, President
Joe Biden
has already announced that he will promulgate the rule, officially known as the "Protecting Americans from Requests Controlled by Foreign Rivals Act", if it is approved in both legislative chambers.
What can happen with TikTok in the United States
A demonstration in favor of the Chinese app outside the United States Congress.
(Photo: AFP)
The law would require TikTok's parent company, ByteDance,
to sell the app within 180 days to a local company
or else it will be excluded from the stores of giants Apple and Google in the United States.
It would also give the president power to designate other apps as a
national security threat
if they are under the control of a
country considered an adversary
of the United States.
The resurgence of Washington's campaign against TikTok came as a
surprise to the company
,
The Wall Street Journal
reported , and TikTok executives were reassured when
Biden joined the social network last month
as part of his campaign to win a second term in the elections next November.
TikTok CEO
Shou Zi Chew
is in Washington aiming to drum up support to stop the bill.
"This latest legislation, passed at unprecedented speed, without even the benefit of a public hearing,
raises serious constitutional concerns
," Michael Beckerman, TikTok's vice president of public policy, wrote in a letter to the bill's cosponsors.
The promoters of the text, both from the House of Representatives, Republican
Mike Gallagher
and Democrat
Raja Krishnamoorthi
, as well as the White House, argue that the bill is not a ban on Tiktok, as long as the company disassociates itself from ByteDance .
China warned Wednesday that the move
would "inevitably turn against the United States
. "
"Although the United States has never found evidence that TikTok threatens American national security, it has not stopped suppressing it," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, condemning it as
"bullying behavior
. "
Donald Trump, against the ban
The Republican candidate is on the warpath against Meta.
(Photo: AP)
In a change from his previous stance, former President
Donald Trump
said on Monday that he is against a ban on TikTok, mainly because it would strengthen the American group
Meta
, the owner of the social networks Instagram and Facebook, which he called of
"enemies of the people"
.
When Trump was president, he attempted to wrest control of Tiktok from ByteDance, but
was blocked by US courts
.
Trump denied accusations that he changed his mind because an investor in TikTok, financier
Jeff Yass
, is a major donor to his campaign.
Other efforts to ban TikTok also
failed
: A bill proposed a year ago failed largely due to concerns that it constituted a threat to free speech.
With information from agencies.
SL