Η US House of Representatives approved bill that will demand from the Chinese company ByteDance-owner of TikTok, to sell its share of the platform social networking, so as not to be confronted with a universal prohibition in the United States.
The result of the vote was clear with 352 members of Congress voting for the bill and only 65 voting against it. The bill gives ByteDance 165 days to withdraw from TikTok. If it does not, the stores applications, including Apple app store and the Google Play, they will stop hosting TikTok.
In recent years, the US government has been putting pressure on TikTok, but the passage of this bill is the most direct threat to ByteDance. The US believes that the Chinese company could collect sensitive data of American users and hand it over to the Chinese Government. For his part, TikTok's CEO has repeatedly stated that he does not collect or share US user data.
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The bill's future is less certain in the Senate. Some Senate Democrats have publicly opposed the bill banning TikTok, citing free speech concerns. They said that action must be taken protection, but which should also apply to other platforms. "We need restrictions on social media, but we need those restrictions to apply everywhere", said Senator Elizabeth Warren.
The former President of the United States, Donald Trump, also reacted to the plans TikTok ban in the USA, saying that such a thing would simply help the Meta and Facebook be developed further.
The White House supported the bill, with press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, saying that the government wants "to see this bill through to the president's desk“.
The authors of the bill argued that this does not mean an immediate ban on the application in the US, as it gives ByteDance the opportunity to sell its share to TikTok to avoid a blockade.
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TikTok does not see things the same way: "This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a complete ban on TikTok in the United States", said the company after the committee vote. "The government is trying to deprive 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression. This will hurt millions of businesses, prevent artists from connecting with their audiences and destroy the financial situation of countless creators throughout the country“.
After the bill was passed by the committee, the employees complained that TikTok supporters had flooded Congress with phone calls after the app sent out a notice urging users to oppose the legislation.
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This decision may have significant implications for TikTok users in the United States. If ByteDance does not sell the platform, TikTok will be completely banned, which would mean that users will no longer be able to enjoy content or create new content on the platform.
As the company itself said, the ban may lead to loss of opportunities for influencers and content creators using the platform to make money.
In addition, if TikTok is sold to another company, users could face changes to the operation of the platform, depending on how the new company decides to manage the platform. This could include changes to content policy, advertising opportunities and user data protection.
Source : www.theguardian.com
