The commotion all over the media lately is that TikTok is getting banned. Influencers from the app are calling out for help, teenagers are upset and outraged. Here’s everything you need to know.
The House of Representatives presented an almost unanimous vote to pass a bill that would ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. on Mar. 13. The bill passed 352-65 with bipartisan support from House Speaker Mike Johnson and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
However, the government does not actually want to ban TikTok. The issue they have with TikTok is it’s a Chinese ownership. The U.S. government is worried about the parent company, ByteDance, being able to hand over the data of 170 million American users to the Chinese government. So, the solution to this would be for ByteDance to divest or sell TikTok to an American company so there is no risk for exploitation. Once the bill is passed through the Senate, ByteDance will have 165 days to comply or else TikTok will become banned from use in the United States. President Joe Biden said that he would surely sign the bill if it reached his desk.
When asked to speak on the upcoming debate, TikTok said, “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.”
So how quickly would TikTok go away if ByteDance does not sell it? Well, even if the bill is passed, signed by the President and 165 days pass with no divestments, there is still a long way to go. TikTok has successfully challenged similar legislation moves in the past and there would be a lot of legal hurdles to overcome. However, former Treasure Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he was already making moves to form a group to buy TikTok. Coincidentally, it is highly unlikely that big companies like Meta, Google and Microsoft will buy the app because of the Biden administration’s antitrust law that prevents these tech giants from growing any larger.
So what do you think? Do you think TikTok will be bought and saved or banned and perished? It’s all up in the air for now.
