WASHINGTON: The United States (US) Senate voted late Tuesday by a wide margin to send legislation to President Joe Biden that would require Chinese owner ByteDance to divest TikTok’s US operations within approximately nine months or face a ban.
This measure, which was approved by the US House of Representatives is driven by concerns over potential access by China to Americans’ data or surveillance through the application. President Biden indicated his intention to sign the legislation into law today.
Senator Marco Rubio, the leading Republican on the Intelligence Committee, remarked, “For years, we have allowed the Chinese Communist Party to control one of America’s most popular apps, which was dangerously short sighted. A new law will compel its Chinese owner to sell the app. This is a positive step for America.”
TikTok, asserting that it has not shared and would not share US user data with the Chinese government, contends that the law effectively constitutes a ban that would infringe upon the free speech rights of its users in the US. The company did not offer an immediate response, but it informed its employees over the weekend that it plans to promptly seek legal recourse to block the legislation.
