Congress’s latest effort to force the sale of TikTok is the most serious threat yet to the app’s future in the US
Michael Dwyer/AP
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Michael Dwyer/AP
Congress’s latest effort to force the sale of TikTok is the most serious threat yet to the app’s future in the US
Michael Dwyer/AP
TikTok is currently struggling against its biggest threat in the US
The House of Representatives on Saturday passed legislation that could trigger a nationwide ban on TikTok if its Chinese owner does not sell the video app.
While lawmakers are in the House of Representatives raise a similar bill Last month, the effort was different for two reasons: It was attached to a sweeping foreign aid bill aimed at supporting Ukraine and Israel. And it addressed the concerns of some Senate members by extending the deadline for TikTok to find a buyer.
President Biden supports this effort. That means TikTok being forced to sell or possibly face a ban is on track to become law.
It would mark the first time the US government has passed a law that could shut down an entire social media platform, setting the stage for what is expected to be a lengthy legal battle.
TikTok denounced the bill as an unconstitutional attack on the hugely popular service.
TikTok spokesman Alex Haurek said: “It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of vital humanitarian and foreign assistance to once again block a ban bill that would trample on people’s free speech rights. 170 million Americans.”
Concerns about propaganda, espionage, fuel TikTok crackdown
National security officials in Washington are concerned that the Chinese government could use TikTok to promote propaganda to interfere in US elections or monitor some of the 170 million Americans who use the app. Use this every month.
Those concerns remain largely hypothetical.
TikTok is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, yet there is no public evidence that government officials ever influence what Americans see on the app, nor is there evidence Which shows that officials in China have been spying on American citizens through TikTok.
TikTok says it has built a firewall between its headquarters in Los Angeles and its parent company in Beijing, but some report said US user data still moves between the two.
While there is no publicly available evidence that Chinese government officials have accessed Americans’ information through TikTok, it has been suggested that China theoretically has weapons capabilities. Enabling an app used by half the American population would be enough to trigger a full-blown crackdown.
Question about what exactly the buyer will receive
According to the bill recently passed by the House of Representatives, TikTok will have a year to find a company or investor group to buy it. That extends the timeline from the six-month deadline the application was given in the original bill the House passed last month, a deadline some Senators said was too short.
But that raises an important question among TikTok experts: What exactly are they buying?
TikTok’s algorithm, the app’s secret sauce, is owned by ByteDance. And in the Trump administration’s campaign against TikTok, China more algorithm recommends content to its export control list, meaning the sale of this technology would require approval from the Chinese government.
James Lewis, director of the technology and public policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said this is not a first step for Beijing.
“This month, the Chinese have said very firmly at senior levels that they will not sell the algorithm, and without it it’s a meaningless deal,” Lewis told NPR.
Then there’s the barrier of the price tag itself.
Since TikTok is one of the largest and most popular social media platforms in the world, its value would make it inaccessible to all of the biggest tech companies.
It’s not known exactly how much TikTok is worth, but analysts estimate its privately owned parent company, ByteDance, at around $225 billion. TikTok is by far the company’s most successful service.
If a Silicon Valley giant tries to take over TikTok, it would almost certainly attract scrutiny from antitrust enforcers in Washington, who are increasingly skeptical of deals that help increasing the reach of already giant tech companies.
Lewis, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, doubts the latest effort will lead to ByteDance abandoning TikTok. However, he noted, it averts the problem until after the presidential election in November:
“The bill buys time to find a real solution, while creating space between passage and an election.”
