US House Votes to Ban TikTok, Reasons Include Terms Set for ByteDance

• The US House has approved legislation requiring TikTok's popular video-sharing app TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell it within 180 days
• The vote in favour was overwhelming, but that does not necessarily mean the measure will become law
• TikTok says the banning of a social media platform amounts to violation of the free speech rights of millions of Americans

On Wednesday, 13 March, the United States House passed legislation banning TikTok unless it parts ways with its Chinese parent company.

As reported by CNN, lawmakers supportive of the bill have argued that TikTok poses a national security threat because the Chinese government could use its intelligence laws against ByteDance, forcing it to hand over the data of United States app users.

The vote by the House of Representatives members was a landslide, with 352 Congress members voting in favour of the ban and only 65 against it.

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The development is considered a significant challenge to one of the world's most popular social media platforms, used by 170 million Americans.

Shortly after the vote, House majority leader Steve Scalise said via X (formerly Twitter):

"This is a critical national security issue and the Senate must take this up and pass it."

TikTok is not impressed with the outcome of the vote

According to NPR, TikTok has said the banning of a social media platform would amount to a violation of the free speech rights of millions of Americans.

If a law is passed, the fight might not end there as it will raise a legal challenge against other efforts to ban the app.

President Joe Biden supports the bill to ban platform TikTok

Briefly News previously reported that US President Joe Biden firmly said he would support a bill to ban TikTok if Congress passes the legislation. He said national security is the primary concern and the app is banned on federal state staff members' devices.

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The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to sell TikTok to a US entity. If the app is banned, this would cut off access to its 170 million American users.

Source: Legit.ng