The U.S Senate has passed a bill that could force TikTok to be sold or face an outright ban within the US. The bill, tucked within a larger foreign aid package, passed with a 79-18 vote. President Biden is expected to sign it into law on Wednesday, according to the White House.
If enacted, the bill gives TikTok’s parent company ByteDance one year to sell the app to a US-based buyer. Failure to do so could result in TikTok being blocked within the United States.
This isn’t the first attempt to ban TikTok. In March, the House passed a similar standalone bill, but it stalled in the Senate. By attaching the ban to critical foreign aid, the Senate was forced to address the issue.
TikTok has not yet released a formal statement, but the company’s head of US public policy, Michael Beckerman, plans to challenge the ban in court, according to Bloomberg.
US lawmakers have expressed concerns about TikTok’s Chinese ownership, fearing that user data could be accessed by the Chinese government. TikTok has repeatedly assured the US that it does not share US user data with China.
Once President Biden signs the bill into law, the clock starts. ByteDance will have a year to find a US buyer for TikTok. If a deal can’t be reached, the app could face a ban within US borders, affecting its millions of American users.
