A bill that would force China-based company ByteDance to sell TikTok \u2014\u00a0or else face a US ban of the platform \u2014 is all but certain to become law after the Senate passed a foreign aid package including the measure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It now heads to President Joe Biden, who already committed to signing the TikTok legislation should it make it through both chambers of Congress. The House passed the foreign aid package that includes the TikTok bill on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Once signed by the president, ByteDance would have up to a year to complete a sale of TikTok or face an effective ban for the platform in the US. The bill gives ByteDance an initial nine months and gives the president discretion to extend it another three should there be progress toward a deal. Still, legal challenges could possibly delay enforcement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Senate vote came together due to clever political maneuvering in the House, which has now twice voted to pass the TikTok legislation. The first time, House lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favor of the bill<\/a> when brought as a standalone measure with a shorter divestment timeframe of six months. But key Senate leaders remained noncommittal about its future in that chamber. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n By packaging it in the high-priority foreign aid package, the House effectively forced the Senate to take up the TikTok issue earlier than they might have otherwise. Extending the timeline for a deal to happen also secured more support in the Senate. The bill passed 79-18.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lawmakers and intelligence officials are concerned<\/a> that TikTok\u2019s ownership by a China-based company could endanger the data of its US users. That\u2019s mostly due to a Chinese national security law that can compel companies based there to hand over internal information. TikTok itself is based in Singapore, and the company says it doesn\u2019t store US information in China. Some lawmakers have also worried that the Chinese government could influence what types of messages US users see, and felt that TikTok\u2019s campaign to mobilize users to call Congress to oppose the bill only validated those fears.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cCongress is not acting to punish\u00a0ByteDance, TikTok or any other\u00a0individual company,\u201d Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote.\u00a0\u201cCongress is acting to prevent\u00a0foreign adversaries from\u00a0conducting espionage,\u00a0surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable\u00a0Americans, our servicemen and\u00a0women, and our U.S. government\u00a0personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe truth is, these Chinese\u00a0companies at the end of the day,\u00a0they don\u2019t owe their obligation\u00a0to their customers, or their\u00a0shareholders, but they owe it to\u00a0the PRC government,\u201d Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) said. \u201cIn the context of social media\u00a0platforms used by nearly half of\u00a0Americans, it\u2019s not hard to\u00a0imagine how a platform that\u00a0facilitates so much commerce,\u00a0political discourse, and social\u00a0debate could be covertly\u00a0manipulated to serve the goals\u00a0of an authoritarian regime, one\u00a0with a long track record of\u00a0censorship, transnational\u00a0repression, and promotion of\u00a0disinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Warner added that TikTok\u2019s earlier proposed solution to concerns around its data governance, Project Texas, were inadequate. \u201cProject Texas would\u00a0still allow TikTok\u2019s algorithm,\u00a0source code, and development\u00a0activities to remain in China,\u201d Warner said. \u201cThey would remain so under\u00a0ByteDance control and subject to\u00a0Chinese government exploitation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMany Americans, particularly\u00a0young Americans, are rightfully\u00a0skeptical.\u00a0At the end of the day, they\u2019ve not seen what Congress\u00a0has seen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But he also addressed the concerns of many young Americans who use TikTok and fear this legislation means it will go away. \u201cI want to\u00a0make clear to all Americans,\u00a0this is not an effort to take\u00a0your voice away,\u201d Warner said. \u201cMany Americans, particularly\u00a0young Americans, are rightfully\u00a0skeptical.\u00a0At the end of the day, they\u2019ve not seen what Congress\u00a0has seen.\u00a0They\u2019ve not been in the\u00a0classified briefings that Congress\u00a0has held, which have delved more\u00a0deeply into some of the threats posed by\u00a0foreign control of TikTok.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cBut what they have seen, beyond even\u00a0this bill, is Congress\u2019 failure\u00a0to enact meaningful consumer\u00a0protections on big tech, and may\u00a0cynically view this as a\u00a0diversion, or worse, a concession to\u00a0U.S. social media platforms,\u201d Warner continued. \u201cTo those young Americans, I want to say\u00a0we hear your concern.\u00a0And we hope that TikTok will continue\u00a0under new ownership, American or\u00a0otherwise.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI will sign this bill into law and address the American people as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week,\u201d President Biden said in an official statement<\/a> released shortly after passage in the Senate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n