Global (Commonwealth Union) –The US House of Representatives approved a bill aiming to enforce a nationwide prohibition of the widely-used video platform TikTok if its parent company based in China fails to divest, citing concerns over its current ownership model posing a national security risk.
With a decisive vote of 352-65, the bill advances to the Senate, although its fate remains uncertain. TikTok, boasting over 150 million American users, operates as a fully-owned subsidiary under the Chinese tech giant ByteDance Ltd.
However, many US Tik Tok users were seen protesting against the bill stating that the move will severely affect them as Tik Tok was used by them to communicate with their followers and to promote their enterprises.
Many of the votes in favor of the bill by the US House of Representatives, were primarily stating that tik tok being a foreign owned company could share US users’ data with a foreign government, however many tik tok users protesting the move held a common view that US tech giants could do the same thing and the bill was not really about their safety.
In spite the bill receiving bipartisan support in getting approved from individuals from both the Republican party and the Democratic party who had many opposing views, the bill also received bipartisan opposition.
Ro Khanna who is a Democrat indicated that TikTok owner should be made to sell app, however a ban was too ‘extreme’. Thomas Massie, a republican expressed his concerns of the danger of permitting the President deciding which app the American people can access.
Concerns have been raised about the freedom of information which is seen a basic right of the public to hear all sides without being influenced by one side or the other. Senator Rand Paul also a Republican tweeted a message on X saying “The House ban of TikTok is not securing our nation—it’s a disturbing gift of unprecedented authority to President Biden and the Surveillance State that threatens the very core of American digital innovation and free expression.”
