The US House of Congress voted to ban ByteDance-owned video-sharing platform TikTok Saturday, citing concerns about data security and vulnerability to China.
According to the bill passed by the House of Representatives, the social media application would be prohibited in the North American country if the owners of TikTok did not sell the stakes within a year.
The bill will now be moving to the US Senate.
Authorities in the US have claimed that TikTok is a national security threat and that it has collected the data of millions of Americans which may be given to the Chinese government.
That may be manipulated to influence their behaviours and political choices, the claim implies.
ByteDance however rejected all the claims associated with the data sharing.
US President Joe Biden has already said that if the bill arrives at his table, he would sign it.
The ban may trigger a legal battle between the authorities and the free speech advocates as the US has over 170 million TikTok.
“It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170m Americans, devastate 7m businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24bn to the US economy, annually,” a TikTok spokesperson told Newsweek Saturday.
Olivia DeRamus, the founder of Communia, a social network for women, said: “A lot of people’s livelihoods are at stake.”
Last year, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee to discuss the application and concerns that it’s controlled by the Chinese ruling party.
“Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” he said during his testimony.
