ByteDance To Sell TikTok Or Face Ban In US: Senate Passes Bill

The US Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved legislation that would force Chinese video app TikTok to sell its social media platform or face a ban. The bill, which was sponsored by a group of US lawmakers, was described by several as "pro-TikTok" and "anti-TikTok." It is expected to be subject to legal challenges and will have a significant impact on the livelihoods of content makers who rely on TikTok for their livelihoods. The legislation, which was included in a larger package of $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine and Israel, was voted 79-18 in the Senate. The bill now moves to the House, where President Joe Biden said he would sign it on Wednesday.

Last week's vote by House Republicans to add the bill to the top priority package helped speed its passage through Congress and followed months of talks with the Senate after an earlier version bogged down. The earlier version gave ByteDance six months to sell its stakes in TikTok. But it was met with skepticism from key lawmakers who worried that that was too short a time frame for a potentially tens of billions-dollar deal.

"We'll continue to fight, as this legislation is a clear violation of the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans on TikTok... This is the beginning, not the end of this long process," TikTok told employees on Saturday in an email seen by Reuters.

It's important to note that this isn't the first time the U.S. government has tried to clamp down on the Chinese app. In 2020, President Donald Trump's efforts to ban TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps in the United States were blocked by the courts after ByteDance refused to divest the app.

However, the new legislation is likely to provide the Biden administration with a stronger legal basis to ban TikTok, experts say. The legislation also provides the White House with new tools to prohibit or compel the sale of foreign-owned apps deemed security threats.