President Joe Biden has vowed to support a bill that could force ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the video-sharing platform or face a ban in the United States.
Dubbed Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the bill was first introduced in the House on Tuesday, Mar. 5, by Rep. Mike Gallagher and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi .
Pressure to regulate TikTok has been growing since the FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before Congress that the app is a tool of the Chinese government and it entails national security concerns. President Biden has now said that if they pass it, he ‘ll sign it.
According to TikTok ,the bill is a thinly-veiled effort to force a total ban of its app and that this legislation has a predetermined outcome which is to tottaly ban of TikTok in the United States.
The company said in a statement that the US government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression and would damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.
Last week, the bill passed its first round of voting in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The next debate will be on the House floor on Wednesday, where all members of the House be required to vote. It will require a two-thirds majority to pass. From there, it will be taken to the Senate, where it will go through a similar process of voting.
If the bill is approved by both the House and the Senate, it will then be presented to President Biden, who will have the opportunity to sign or veto the bill.
