US Lawmakers Push For Bill That Could Ban TikTok in the Country | Details Inside

Washington DC – After a year-long scrutiny over the security threats of using the social media video-sharing app TikTok, House Republicans and Democrats are joining together to propose a bill that has the potential to ban TikTok in the United States. According to NBC News, the legislation in question would force its parent company China-based ByteDance divest the popular app or risk the US banning it from the app stores. As per the reports, the bill was co-authored by the bipartisan leaders of the select committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman Mike Gallagher, and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, who also serves on the Intelligence Committee.

Both the lawmakers submitted the report after returning from a visit to Taiwan and the greater Indo-Pacific Region. While the White House has signalled support for the bill, they haven't explicitly mentioned that they will endorse the legislation. On Thursday, Energy and Commerce Committee, led by Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers is planning to mark up the bill and get it passed on the House floor for a future vote. She has made it clear that the committee has been kept “in the loop” and the legislators are working “very closely” with the White House to ensure that the legislation is passed with consensus. 

What the bill is about?

The Bill in question is called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which would create a process for the president to identify certain social media applications under the control of foreign adversaries, like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, as national security threats. The President can do so through the FBI and other intelligence agencies operating in the country. Once the app is deemed “risky” under the act, it will be banned from web hosting services until it clarifies that it has broken ties with entities under the control of the foreign adversary within 180 days of the designation. Meanwhile, TikTok has maintained that the legislation will trample the “First Amendment rights” of its users. “This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement. “This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs,” the spokesperson furthered.