The House Passed TikTok Ban Bill Amid National Security Concerns: Is The App Truly A Threat?
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives approved a bill presenting TikTok with two options: secure a buyer for the highly popular video platform or confront a nationwide ban in America.
President Joe Biden expressed his intention to endorse the legislation, although it must first pass through the Senate, where its prospects remain uncertain. While various anti-TikTok initiatives in the Senate have encountered obstacles, it remains to be seen whether the House's bill will encounter a different outcome.
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Regardless of the outcome, this legislation represents a historic moment as it is the first instance where a congressional chamber has approved a bill to shutter a social media platform. Advocates argue that such action infringes upon the free speech rights of millions of Americans.
The bill mandates ByteDance to find a buyer for TikTok within six months. Failure to do so would render TikTok illegal for app stores and web-hosting services to offer, provided it remains under the control of a "foreign adversary."
Consequently, Apple and Google would be compelled to remove TikTok from their app stores, while internet service providers would need to block access to TikTok on browsers in the U.S.
Despite this, TikTok would still remain accessible for the 170 million existing American users, although without the ability to download updates. Experts anticipate the app would gradually deteriorate in performance, becoming slow, glitchy, and virtually unusable over time.
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(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
In essence, the video platform would face a slow, drawn-out demise rather than an immediate shutdown.
Washington officials - spanning both parties - expressed concerns about TikTok allegedly being exploited by the Chinese government for espionage, dissemination of pro-China propaganda, or interference in U.S. elections.
However, no evidence has been presented thus far to substantiate these fears.
