US Senate
The United States Senate has passed a bill that would compel TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a ban in the country.
The legislation, included as part of a broader $95 billion foreign aid package aimed at providing assistance to Ukraine and Israel, received bipartisan support, with a vote of 79-18 in favor.
This vote follows a move by House Republicans to attach the TikTok bill to foreign aid proposals, streamlining its passage through Congress. Once signed into law by President Joe Biden, the bill will give ByteDance a nine-month window to divest from TikTok.
Both Republicans and Democrats have expressed concerns about TikTok’s potential threat to national security, citing fears that the app could be exploited by the Chinese government for surveillance and propaganda purposes.
However, TikTok has consistently denied these allegations, asserting that it has not shared American users’ data with the Chinese government and vowing to protect user privacy.
The passage of this bill comes amid ongoing debate over the reauthorisation of a surveillance programme permitting the monitoring of citizens’ communications without judicial warrants.
TikTok has criticized the bill as a violation of free speech rights and intends to challenge its constitutionality. Last year, a similar ban on TikTok was blocked by a judge in Montana, who ruled that it infringed upon constitutional rights.
Civil liberties organizations, including the ACLU and the Knight First Amendment Institute, have also opposed the bill on grounds of free speech.
Former President Donald Trump’s previous attempt to ban TikTok via executive order in 2020 was met with legal challenges, with courts citing concerns over free speech and due process.
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