Tiktok Ban: Congress Takes Aim, Bytedance Pushes Back
On Wednesday, Congress banned the popular app, Tiktok, in the United States, unless Tiktok’s parent company, Bytedance, agrees to sell the app to an American buyer. Tiktok, in response, refused to commit to selling the app.
Let’s Break This Down
The Facts:
The bill banning Tiktok was signed into law on Wednesday after a long and contentious debate in Congress as part of a bundled Senate package also including aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.
The bill was signed by President Biden and had overwhelming support from both parties, but dissent was also bipartisan amid free speech violation concerns.
The new law gives Bytedance until January 19th, a day before the end of Biden’s term, to sell the company.
What Bytedance Is Saying:
Bytedance continues to maintain that Tiktok is not spying on or collecting data from Americans, a heated point of argument between Bytedance’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, and members of Congress during his recent testimony.
US users of Tiktok comprise just 5% of Bytedance’s global daily users across all of the company’s apps, a small enough number that the company is signaling it will be better off simply letting the US branch of the app die off instead of selling.
Bytedance has promised legal action to block the bill from taking effect, saying they are confident they will prevail on free speech claims in court.
What’s Next:
Bytedance will likely sue to block the legislation, leading to a long fight that will almost certainly make its way to the US Supreme Court.
Due to the bipartisan support in Congress for the bill, it’s not yet apparent how the court might rule on the issue.
In the meantime, Donald Trump, who originally signaled support for a ban during his time in office, has reversed his position and is now asserting that President Biden would be “responsible” for any ban.
Read more here:
