TikTok Faces U.S. Ban As Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Legislation

The U.S. Senate has overwhelmingly supported a bill that proposes prohibiting TikTok in the United States.

As per the bill, unless its parent company, the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, sells off the widely-used short video platform within the next nine to twelve months.

Prompted by concerns among U.S. lawmakers about potential data access or surveillance by China, the bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is set to be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The ongoing struggle surrounding TikTok, with its 170 million users in the United States, represents merely a single aspect of the broader conflict over internet and technology between Washington and Beijing.

TikTok, asserting that it has not and will not share American user data with the Chinese government, refrained from commenting initially. However, it informed its employees that it plans to swiftly pursue legal action to challenge the legislation if passed.

TikTok intends to contest the bill citing First Amendment principles, and its users are anticipated to pursue legal avenues once more.