TikTok Faces U.S. Ban in New Draft Bill
TikTok, the short-video platform owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance, is facing renewed political pressure in the U.S. from a draft bill that could lead to a ban of its popular video-sharing app. The bill, introduced in Congress on Tuesday, calls for Beijing-based ByteDance to divest itself of TikTok or face the platform being banned from app stores and web-hosting services in the U.S.
ByteDance would have a little more than five months from the enactment of the bill to comply. The bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, who leads the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Democrat Rep.
Raja Krishnamoorthi, addresses “foreign adversary-controlled applications," and flags what it says are national security risks posed by TikTok and “any other application or service developed or provided by Bytedance." “America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States," Gallagher said in a press release, referring to China. Krishnamoorthi added that the bill would give the U.S. president tools to “press dangerous apps to divest and defend Americans’ security and privacy." The bill defined control by a foreign adversary as a business with a minimum 20% stake held directly or indirectly by a foreign adversary, or with headquarters that are in or subject to direction by a foreign adversary.
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