TikTok faces a US ban after Congress voted overwhelmingly to force the app’s Chinese parent company to divest.
The House of Representatives passed the bill Wednesday morning in a bipartisan vote of 352-65, despite calls from Donald Trump and Elon Musk to oppose the bill and outrage from teenagers for not preventing them from accessing the wildly popular video platform.
Now senators will decide whether the national security threat posed by TikTok is worth the headache of voters who love the app and have been calling lawmakers repeatedly, asking them to vote against the measure. The social media company boasts over 150 million US users.
The House China Select Committee says Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, through ByteDance, are using TikTok to spy on its American users’ locations and dictate its algorithm to conduct influence campaigns, making it a national security threat.
ByteDance would have five months after the law’s signing to divest TikTok. If it doesn’t, app stores and web hosting platforms won’t be allowed to distribute it in the US
The bill has a good chance of becoming law as a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed the bill and Joe Biden confirmed he would sign it if it also passes the Senate.
Still, as the bill has gained steam, so has its opposition. Trump threw cold water on it last week, insisting that if TikTok was banned, its rival Facebook would ‘double their business’.
“I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last election, to do better,” Trump wrote in a social media post. ‘They are a true public enemy!’
TikTok sent this message to users on Tuesday morning, asking them to get in touch with their lawmakers to let them know if they support the TikTok law
Lawmakers accused TikTok of providing its US user data to Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance, which they say has ties to the Chinese Communist Party
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk has come out against the TikTok bill, claiming it could be used as a form of government repression
Elon Musk joined Trump in opposing efforts to rein in TikTok’s influence, calling it government ‘censorship’ in a post on X on Tuesday.
‘This law isn’t just about TikTok, it’s about censorship and government control! If it was just about TikTok, it would only mention ‘foreign control’ as the problem, but it doesn’t,’ Musk said.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., also voted against the bill, mentioning Musk by name, praising him for restoring her account on X after it was previously banned and denouncing the ‘Pandora’s Box’ this bill could open.
‘What’s to stop the US government from forcing the sale of another social media company that claims it protects US data from foreign adversaries?’
“I think this bill could cause future problems. It opens Pandora’s box and I am opposed to this bill, Greene said on the floor Wednesday.
“This is really about controlling Americans’ data, and if we cared about Americans’ data, we would stop the sale of Americans’ data universally, not just to China.”
But the bill’s author, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., pushed back on it Wednesday morning.
“TikTok is a threat to our national security because it is owned by ByteDance, which does the bidding of the Communist Party,” Gallagher said on the floor.
“This bill therefore forces TikTok to break with the Chinese Communist Party. This does not apply to American companies.’
Gallagher argued that his bill would only affect companies subject to the control of foreign adversaries.
Greene was among a number of prominent GOP members who voted against the bill, including Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Tom McClintock, R-Calif., Nancy Mace, RS.C., and more.
Across the aisle, ‘Squad’ members voted reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also oppose the measure.
A lawmaker, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, voted in attendance.
TikTok pushed back against the “ban” in a statement released after Parliament passed the bill.
‘This process was secret and the bill was blocked for one reason: it is a ban. We hope 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.’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said the bill could be the equivalent of opening ‘Pandora’s Box’ and that the future consequences of the measure are unknown
TikTok advocates rallied outside the Capitol ahead of Wednesday’s vote to push back against the bill
Some of the advocates who came to the Capitol on Wednesday were TikTok content creators
House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement that the vote ‘demonstrates Congress’s opposition to Communist China’s attempts to spy on and manipulate Americans, and signals our resolve to deter our enemies.’
“I urge the Senate to pass this bill and send it to the President so he can sign it into law,” he continued.
In response to the growing support behind the bill, TikTok sent out a push notification to its 100 million users yesterday telling them that “Your voice is important to stop the shutdown.”
The message prompted users to contact their congressman to urge them to vote against the proposed bill.
As a result, congressional offices received hundreds of calls about the bill Tuesday and Wednesday morning, congressional aides told DailyMail.com.
Many callers appeared to be children or concerned parents begging for the app not to be banned.
Users are told that the bill threatens TikTok’s existence, when in fact all it does is force its parent company to divest — something that callers largely endorse when employees explain the nuance of the bill.
‘TikTok’s campaign to get users to call their representatives shows how much control they have. This campaign is reminiscent of typical Communist Party tactics, said Rep. Greg Murphy, R-NC, told DailyMail.com in a statement Tuesday.
‘Unfortunately, these callers do not understand what they are really standing for – they are following orders from Beijing. The CCP hopes to copy their modus operandi of telling their citizens what to do.’
His office phones were ‘blowing up’ according to staff. Murphy voted in favor of the bill on Wednesday.
Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., told DailyMail.com that he is in favor of the bill and despite the deluge of calls, ‘We will talk to any constituent who wants to call in and talk us through this.’
“We are explaining our position and that is a normal part of the process,” he said.
Rep. Rep. John Duarte, R-Calif., told DailyMail.com that while he doesn’t yet know how he will vote on the bill, ‘it won’t be because 16-year-olds are calling me from all over the country.’
The bill passed in committee last week by a unanimous vote of 50-0.
In a statement, TikTok said of the bill’s passage committee: ‘This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban on TikTok in the United States. The government is trying to strip 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free speech. This will hurt millions of businesses, deny artists an audience and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.’
TikTok sent this message to users last week after the bill was introduced
Lawmakers have also expressed reticence about how the TikTok bill might affect First Amendment protections.
‘I think it’s a terrible idea and it’s hysteria running through both parties now.’ Late. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told DailyMail.com on Friday.
‘In America we don’t just tell people you can’t own a business because we don’t like you. And 150 million people use their First Amendment freedom to express themselves on TikTok, and you can’t just take that away from them.’
Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie agreed.
‘The so-called TikTok ban is a Trojan horse. The president will be given the power to ban websites, not just apps,’ he wrote on X.