U.S. President Biden signs bill that will see TikTok sold or banned next year

U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill forcing TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to divest ownership of the app or see it banned.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a bill forcing TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to divest ownership of the app or see it banned in the next nine months, extendable by another three months if needed.

The bill was signed after the U.S. Senate voted largely in favour of it, along with foreign aid to strategic American allies.

Both Democratic and Republican politicians have shared fears of China’s Communist Party using TikTok through ByteDance in order to manipulate Americans, push propaganda, and carry out espionage.

Last year, several U.S. states began banning TikTok in government employees’ work devices, though sweeping bans on private usage were not successful in court.

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However, TikTok may not necessarily disappear from the U.S. next year as a company spokesperson confirmed that the company will be taking its fight to the court in order to stop the ban from taking place, reported The Verge.

Meanwhile, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew posted a video on the platform where he criticised the motion in strong terms and said that the new bill was a ban on American people and their voices.