The House approved a bill Wednesday that calls for China tech giant ByteDance to divest TikTok or the popular social video app will effectively be banned in the U.S.
The measure passed with a resounding 352-65 vote and with one member voting present.
The legislation, dubbed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, was introduced March 5 by Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Two days later, House members on the Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously to approve the bill, which refers to TikTok as a threat to national security because it is controlled by a foreign adversary.
The bill now heads to the Senate where it faces an uncertain future as senators appear divided about the legislation, and other federal and state-led efforts to ban TikTok have stalled.
“This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: it’s a ban,” a TikTok spokesperson said after the vote was passed. “We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service.”
President Joe Biden, who created an official TikTok account in February as part of his election campaign, has previously said that he would sign the bill if it is passed, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged that the White House is providing “technical support” in the crafting of the legislation. Jean-Pierre said in a media briefing March 6 that once “it’s on legal standing and it’s in a place where it can get out of Congress, then the President would sign it.”
Participants hold signs in support of TikTok at a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol Building on March 12, 2024 in Washington, DC.Â
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Although House members who drafted the bill have previously said that it “does not ban TikTok,”…
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