TikTook Ban Bill Passes In The House, Still Needs To Go Through Senate

TikTook’s dancing on skinny ice within the U.S. … with the House voting to ban the favored social media app — until its Beijing-based mum or dad firm ByteDance sells its stake, that’s.

A vote went down Wednesday and it was a landslide — 352 to 65 — in favor of the ban … a uncommon second of bipartisan settlement, with 197 Republicans and 155 Democrats giving it the inexperienced mild, citing the app’s Chinese language possession as a serious nationwide safety menace.

The House did not waste any time with the laws — dubbed the Defending Individuals from Overseas Adversary Managed Functions Act — however TikTook’s future nonetheless hangs within the steadiness … because it nonetheless has to make its method by way of the Senate, after which over to Joe Biden.

This present invoice offers ByteDance a strict ultimatum — both dump TikTook and its different apps inside six months or face the chop from U.S. app shops and different web-hosting providers.

Lawmakers have lengthy been sweating bullets over fears the Chinese language authorities might drive ByteDance into handing over the info of its whopping 170M American customers — regardless that TikTook has vehemently denied it is snooping on U.S. residents.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw did not pull any punches earlier than the vote, saying … “TikTok is owned by ByteDance. ByteDance is in China and when you’re in China, you have to do whatever the Chinese Communist Party tells you what to do.”

He added, “If they want you to spy for them, you will spy for them; that’s how that works.”

Nevertheless, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese language Embassy in Washington, is accusing the U.S. of operating a smear marketing campaign to convey down the China-based firm — including in a press release the U.S “has not been able to give hard evidence to prove the so-called threats from TikTok to U.S. national security.”