The U.S. could see a ban on the popular social media app TikTok soon as lawmakers there introduce legislation that would block any “ByteDance-controlled application” over national security concerns.
The bill would prevent the app from being allowed on app stores or web hosting platforms “unless the application severs ties to entities like ByteDance that are subject to the control of a foreign adversary.”
ByteDance is the Chinese-owned parent company of TikTok.
Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher and Democratic ranking member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi put forward the legislation on Tuesday. Both are senior members of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
The legislation, a statement said, is supported by more than two dozen other lawmakers from both parties to address national security concerns posed by Chinese ownership of the app.
Under the bill, which is not yet passed, ByteDance would have 165 days to divest of the app used by more than 170 million Americans or see it banned. This would include blocking it from app stores such as Apple and Google, as well as web-hosting services.
No individual users with an affected app would see enforcement against them, the bill notes.
“This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” Gallagher said in a news release. “TikTok’s time in the United States is over unless it ends its relationship with CCP-controlled ByteDance.”
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Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that ByteDance could share TikTok user data — such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers — with China’s authoritarian government.
A 2017 Chinese law requires companies to give the government any personal data relevant to the country’s national security, though the law is murky about what that threshold is.
TikTok said in a statement that the bill would amount to a ban.
“This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it,” spokesperson Alex Haurek wrote. “This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs.”
What could happen next?
The legislation would see the president be given new powers to designate certain apps as ones of concern to potentially face bans or restrictions if divestiture isn’t made.
The apps that would fall under this would apply if they have more than one million active users “and is under the control of a foreign adversary entity.”
It’s not the first time a ban has been considered in the U.S., with Senate legislation to ban TikTok also occurring last year though it stalled in the face of heavy lobbying.
The bill marks the first significant legislative movement toward banning or forcing ByteDance to divest the app in nearly a year. It is expected to be taken up at an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Thursday for a potential vote and could pose a significant threat to ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok, and would require companion legislation from the Senate.
It is not yet clear whether any Canadian efforts could also come.
The federal government banned TikTok on all government-issued mobile devices in February 2023. The European Commission has also done so, and the federal privacy commissioner and three provincial counterparts have an ongoing joint investigation into privacy concerns.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not rule out further action last year.
— with files from Reuters
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