U.S. House of Representatives Approves TikTok Ban

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill on Wednesday that forces TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company or face a ban in the United States. A total of 352 representatives voted in favor of the proposed law, while 65 opposed it, marking a rare moment of bipartisan agreement in the divided Washington. This legislation represents the biggest threat yet to the popular app, which has raised concerns among governments and security officials regarding its Chinese ownership and potential ties to the Communist Party in Beijing. TikTok is extremely popular, with approximately 170 million users in the United States. President Joe Biden must sign the bill, officially titled "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversarial Applications," for it to become law if it reaches the White House. Last week, a committee in the House of Representatives voted unanimously, with all fifty members in favor, of the bill that would compel TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell its subsidiary, under the threat of banning the app from the Apple and Google app stores in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, Washington's renewed campaign against TikTok came as a surprise to the company, as executives had felt reassured when Biden joined the app last month as part of his campaign for a second presidential term.