Lawmakers sped a possible TikTok ban through Congress by tying it to a sprawling funding package offering aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
Sens. Mark R. Warner and Marco Rubio attend a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing concerning worldwide threats, including TikTok, in March 2023. Congress late Tuesday passed legislation to ban or force a sale of TikTok, delivering a historic rebuke of the video-sharing platform’s Chinese ownership after years of failed attempts to tackle the app’s alleged national security risks.. Biden issued a statement minutes after the Senate vote saying he plans to sign the bill into law on Wednesday.
The measure — which has broad bipartisan support — poses the most significant threat yet to the app’s operations in the United States, where it has more than 170 million users and has become an economic and cultural powerhouse. Lawmakers pushing for the restriction have cited concerns that the company’s ownership structure could allow the Chinese government to gain access to Americans’ data, claims that TikTok disputes.
Months before the bill was introduced, the lawmakers brought administration officials into the negotiations, several of the aides said, with the Justice Department offering critical input on how lawmakers could head off legal challenges from TikTok with tweaks to the bill, one of the senior Republican House aides said.
Because of that legwork, House lawmakers were able to swiftly advance the legislation through committee and pass it on the floor less than a week after introducing it last month, several aides said.“The fire looked like it had been put out, but the embers were still just exceptionally hot,” said Brendan Carr, a Republican at the Federal Communications Commission who has been a vocal TikTok critic and has closely allied with lawmakers targeting the company.
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