- US Senate approves measure potentially banning TikTok
- ByteDance given 9 months to sell TikTok stake
- President Biden to sign measure; ByteDance may resist sale
A landmark measure that the US Senate has approved has generated controversy and may result in the prohibition of TikTok in the United States.
The Chinese proprietor of TikTok, ByteDance, is given nine months to sell its stake or the application will be blocked in the USA.
President Joe Biden of the United States will now receive the measure; he has stated that he will affix his signature to it as soon as it arrives on his desk.
TikTok informed that no immediate response was available in response to the action. Bytedance had previously stated that it would resist any effort to compel the company to sell TikTok.
Even if the United States is successful in compelling ByteDance to sell TikTok, Chinese officials would still have to approve any transaction; however, Beijing has vowed to oppose such an action. According to analysts, the procedure may take years.
A package of four laws, which also included military assistance for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and other US allies in the Indo-Pacific, included the measure in its passage.
It received broad legislative support, as 79 Senators cast their votes in favour of it and 18 opposed it.
“It was perilously short-sighted to allow the Chinese Communist Party to control one of the most popular apps in America for years,” said Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Marco Rubio.
“A new law will mandate that the app’s Chinese developer sell the application. “This is an excellent move for the United States,” he continued.
Concerns that information pertaining to millions of Americans might fall into the clutches of China have prompted congressional efforts to separate TikTok from the Beijing-based company.
The social media platform announced last week that the bill would “trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, destroy seven million businesses, and shut down a $24 billion annual contributor to the US economy.”
ByteDance, according to TikTok, “is not an agent of China or any other nation.” And ByteDance maintains it is not a Chinese company, citing the sixty percent ownership stake held by international investment firms.
According to a statement made by the company’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, last month, the organisation will persist in exercising its “legal rights” in order to safeguard the platform.
Mr. Shou, who was questioned twice by Congress in less than a year, minimised the app’s and his own personal ties to Chinese authorities.
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An extensive lobbying campaign was among the measures taken by the social media platform to garner support against the potential ban.
Additionally, TikTok creators and consumers were encouraged to voice their opposition to the bill.
Professor of law at the University of Richmond Carl Tobias told that a protracted legal battle is probable and “could take approximately two years.”
In the absence of a buyer within the allotted nine months, he added, ByteDance could further postpone any legal proceedings against TikTok in the United States.
