The US Senate has passed legislation that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok within a year or face a national ban, sending the measure to President

US moves to force ByteDance to sell TikTok

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2024-04-24 02:30:01

The US Senate has passed legislation that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok within a year or face a national ban, sending the measure to President Joe Biden’s desk. He is expected to sign it.

The White House-backed legislation was approved as part of a broader national security package — combining Ukraine and Israel aid — that passed the House in a bipartisan vote over the weekend. Proponents of the TikTok measure say that the popular video app’s Chinese ownership poses a national security threat.

A TikTok spokesperson last week characterized the legislation as an assault on free speech, signaling a likely legal challenge on First Amendment grounds.

“It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy, annually,” the spokesperson said.

Bloomberg reported earlier this week that TikTok’s head of public policy told employees in a memo that the company would “move to the courts for a legal challenge” once the measure is signed into law.