The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to pass a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban against popular social media app TikTok in the country.
The bill hopes to ban TikTok from US app stores unless the social media platform is detached from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The House vote was 352 to 65, with 50 Democrats and 15 Republicans voting against the bill.
Lawmakers who support the bill argued that TikTok poses a national security threat because the Chinese government could use its intelligence laws to force it to hand over the data of Americans using the app.
The bill would give ByteDance roughly five months to sell TikTok. If not divested by that time, it would be illegal for app store operators such as Apple and Google to make it available for download.
Reacting to the legislation, TikTok described it an attack on the constitutional right to freedom of expression for its users. It launched a call-to-action campaign within the app, urging users to call representatives in Washington to oppose the bill.
It said “This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: it’s a ban,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement.
“We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service.”
