TikTok ban? Bipartisan U.S. bill could block app unless action taken

Legislation is being introduced, backed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, to address national security concerns posed by Chinese ownership of the app, aides said.

The U.S. could see a ban on the popular social media app TikTok soon as lawmakers there introduce legislation that would block any “ByteDance-controlled application” over national security concerns.

The bill would prevent the app from being allowed on app stores or web hosting platforms “unless the application severs ties to entities like ByteDance that are subject to the control of a foreign adversary.”

ByteDance is the Chinese-owned parent company of TikTok.

Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher and Democratic ranking member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi put forward the legislation on Tuesday. Both are senior members of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

The legislation, a statement said, is supported by more than two dozen other lawmakers from both parties to address national security concerns posed by Chinese ownership of the app.

Under the bill, which is not yet passed, ByteDance would have 165 days to divest of the app used by more than 170 million Americans or see it banned. This would include blocking it from app stores such as Apple and Google, as well as web-hosting services.

No individual users with an affected app would see enforcement against them, the bill notes.

“This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” Gallagher said in a news release. “TikTok’s time in the United States is over unless it ends its relationship with CCP-controlled ByteDance.”