PRESIDENT Joe Biden has signed a bill that will potentially ban TikTok in the United States.
The proposal will give the Chinese company ByteDance nine months or a year to sell the popular video-sharing app or face a nationwide ban.
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Biden signed the legislation as part of a $95 billion foreign aid bill to provide assistance to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.
The president hailed it as a “good day for world peace” but refused to discuss the future of TikTok.
“The path to my desk was a difficult path,” Biden said on Wednesday.
“It should have been easier, and it should’ve gotten there sooner. But in the end, we did what America always does, we rose to the moment.”
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TikTok has vowed to challenge the measure in court, calling the law unconstitutional.
“We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail,” the company said in a statement.
“The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation.
“This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans.
“As we continue to challenge this unconstitutional ban, we will continue investing and innovating to ensure TikTok remains a space where Americans of all walks of life can safely come to share their experiences, find joy, and be inspired.”
The passage of the legislation culminated a months-long political battle on Capitol Hill that led to a deadlock on foreign aid.
Arguments about the proposed bill were discussed in the Senate on Tuesday but had stalled after an earlier version of the law would have given ByteDance six months to sell the company.
The earlier version drew skepticism from lawmakers who questioned the short timeframe for ByteDance to reach a deal.
The revised bill extended ByteDance’s potential sale deadline to nine months, with a possible three-month extension if a sale is in progress.
NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS
Chinese tech giant ByteDance purchased TikTok in 2017 and has since seen its popularity skyrocket among young Americans.
About 170 million Americans use the short-form video app.
About one-third of young people get their news from TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center.
However, despite its popularity, TikTok has been scrutinized for national security on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers fear possible influence by the Chinese government.
US lawmakers began raising concerns about the video-sharing app in 2020.
An effort by former President Donald Trump at the time to ban social media platform in the US was blocked by the courts on First Amendment grounds.
‘FREEDOM WON’
Republican lawmakers Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence applauded the bill’s passage, calling it a win for freedom.
“Freedom won tonight in the United States Senate,” Pence told Fox News on Tuesday evening.
“I want to commend all the members in both parties, who not only moved critical foreign aid funding for Ukraine, for Israel, for Taiwan.
“We’ve reasserted American leadership, but we put the privacy and the national security of the American people first by passing legislation that will force the sale of TikTok.
“I’m really proud of the members of Congress in both parties, but special credit goes to Speaker Mike Johnson, who stood in the gap, stood tall, demonstrated moral courage, and frankly, America and freedom in the world is more secure as a result.”
McConnell also raised concerns about a Chinese company controlling the popular app.
“I’m a big defender of the First Amendment and free speech, but when it comes to national security, we were all concerned about the control of TikTok by these Chinese,” McConnell told Fox News.
Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, said on the Senate floor on Tuesday, “Congress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok, or any other individual company.
“Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.”
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