The House Passes a TikTok Ban Bill That’s on the Fast Track
A TikTok ban is back on the table after the House approved a new bill on Saturday addressing the issues that stalled it out in the Senate.
The bill would allow the Biden administration to ban TikTok nationwide if it doesn’t divest from its China-based owner, Bytedance, within a year. It’s different from a similar bill passed in the House last month and gives TikTok an additional six months to find a US buyer. The previous bill stalled out in the Senate after Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell raised several issues, including the short timeline for divestiture.
It passed easily, in a 360-58 vote. “This app is a spy balloon on Americans’ phones,” said representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, in his introduction of the bill on the House floor Saturday. “It is a modern-day Trojan horse … used to surveil and exploit America’s personal information.”
