Biden Signs Bill Forcing TikTok Sale or U.S. Ban
President Biden signs a bill forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok within nine months or face a U.S. ban. The legislation passes with strong bipartisan support despite criticism over free speech concerns.
President Biden signs a bill that forces TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to divest the app within nine months or face a nationwide ban on U.S. app stores. This legislation receives strong bipartisan approval, moving quickly through both the House and the Senate with a 79-18 vote before reaching the president's desk as part of a broader $95 billion foreign aid package.
The push to ban or force a sale of the popular social network stems from national security concerns, as U.S. officials warn that ByteDance's ties to China allow the app to potentially further the interests of an adversary. Key Senate figures, including Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner and Senator Marco Rubio, emphasize that ByteDance remains legally required to cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party, which they argue poses a direct threat to American citizens.
Critics of the new law push back against the legislation, arguing that the government unfairly targets a widely used social platform instead of focusing on pressing domestic issues. TikTok, which operates its operations out of Los Angeles and Singapore, now faces a tight deadline to restructure its ownership to remain available to its millions of American users.