On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed an extensive, $95 billion national security package that sends financial aid to Taiwan, Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza. Tucked inside that bill is a piece of legislation the government’s been trying to pass for a while — a purported “TikTok ban.” Called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controller Applications Act, the bill won’t exactly ban TikTok; instead, the goal is to force TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the popular app. The legislation signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday will give ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok. (Biden could extend the deadline by 90 days, too.)
Why was the TikTok legislation pushed under a national security bill? Lawmakers’ argument is that ByteDance has or could share TikTok user data with the Chinese government. The concern is over a Chinese law that requires Chinese companies to share user data with the country if there’s a risk to the country’s national security, despite little (but not zero) evidence that TikTok has done so. Currently, TikTok has more than 170 million American users, making it one of the most popular apps in the country.
The Senate approved the bipartisan foreign aid package in a 79-18 vote. This latest push to force ByteDance’s divestiture comes just one month after the U.S. House of Representatives passed its own TikTok bill. A separate bill, the RESTRICT Act, was proposed last year in a move to ban or restrict TikTok, but it never gained enough support to move past a congressional hearing.
TikTok intends to fight the bill by filing a legal challenge, according to a company statement. The company has waged its own lobbying campaign over the past few months, warning its users that their freedom of speech was at risk should the bill pass. In March, TikTok sent push notifications to its U.S.-based users asking them to contact their representatives to prevent the “total ban of TikTok.” Thousands of TikTok users contacted House lawmakers, but those efforts — and TikTok chief executive officer Shou Chew’s appearance on Capitol Hill — ultimately failed to sway Congress.
In a TikTok, Chew responded by reaffirming the company’s plan to fight the legislation. “Make no mistake, this is a ban — a ban on TikTok, and a ban on you and your voice. Politicians may say otherwise, but don’t get confused. Many who sponsored the bill admit a TikTok ban is the ultimate goal,” he said. “It’s obviously a disappointing moment but it does not need to be a defining one. Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere. We are confident and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts. The facts and the constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again.”
When will TikTok be banned?
Despite the passage of the bill, TikTok won’t be immediately banned, and the app will remain accessible to U.S. users. The bill instead makes it illegal for a company with ties to foreign adversaries — e.g., China — to distribute an app through platforms like the Apple App Store. The hope by the U.S. government is that ByteDance will sell off TikTok to a U.S.-based owner; the bill gives the company 270 days, or roughly nine months, to do so. President Biden could extend the deadline once, by a maximum of 90 days.
ByteDance obviously doesn’t want to sell its cash cow in TikTok, and the company has made it clear that it’ll fight the legislation in court. But if all that fails, and ByteDance doesn’t let go of TikTok, then the app would be banned for U.S. users.
The penalty laid out in the bill for violating the legislation is $5,000 multiplied by the number of U.S.-based users, meaning ByteDance would have to cut a hefty check of around $850 billion. If a marketplace like the App Store kept hosting the app, Apple would incur a $500 fine for each U.S. user.
TikTok’s potential legal challenge, too, could complicate the timeline. Notably, this is a longer time frame than the March bill that passed the House, which gave ByteDance six months — putting the deadline before the upcoming election.
An NBC News source told the outlet that the election was “definitely” a topic that was “conveniently addressed” by the new nine-month window. The speculation there is that the longer timeline shields Congress and Biden from voter backlash this November. Ironically, many U.S. lawmakers use TikTok as a way to reach young voters.
Update: Added the TikTok with CEO Shou Chew’s official response.
