Will TikTok be banned in the US soon? The House of Representatives votes on the bill

In the US, the House of Representatives will vote today, Wednesday, March 13, on a possible ban on the use of TikTok in the country. A related bill was unanimously tabled last week amid fears of Chinese intelligence. If the ban goes into effect, parent company Byte Dance will have about five months to sell TikTok, otherwise the app will no longer be downloadable.

In the message: The US is taking a major step in the fight against China's use of social media TikTok. The US House of Representatives voted to ban the use in its current form. According to Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, such a ban would “protect Americans from threats posed by applications controlled by adversaries.”

• If the House passes that bill, parent company ByteDance would have 165 days to sell TikTok, specifically September 30. If this is not done within that time frame, the app will no longer be available for download on Google's Play Store and Apple's App Store.
• The bill also includes a similar ban on other “utilities operated by hostile foreign entities.”
• TikTok opposes such a ban because, according to them, it takes away the “constitutional right to free speech” of its 170 million US users. “This will damage millions of businesses, affect the livelihoods of countless creators across the country, and deny artists an audience,” ByteDance said in a statement. CNN.
• The authors of the bill point out that they did not seek a ban. “This proposal is firmly in TikTok's hands to sever ties with the Chinese Communist Party. As long as ByteDance no longer owns the company, TikTok can continue to exist. People can continue to make all the fun dance videos they want on the platform or interact with their friends. But the fundamental rights framework needs to change,” said Republican Mike Gallagher.

Trump

Notable: TikTok has found an ally in recent days with presidential candidate Donald Trump. The former president is against the ban on this application. According to him, this will give even more power to the “adversary meta,” referring to Facebook's parent company.