The U.S. Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok香蕉视频直播檚 China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that香蕉视频直播檚 expected to face legal challenges and disrupt the lives of content creators who rely on the short-form video app for income.
The TikTok legislation was included as part of a larger $95 billion package that provides foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel and was passed 79-18. It now goes to President Joe Biden, who said in a statement immediately after passage that he will sign it Wednesday.
A decision made by House Republicans last week to attach the TikTok bill to the high-priority package helped expedite its passage in Congress and came after negotiations with the Senate, where an earlier version of the bill had stalled. That version had given TikTok香蕉视频直播檚 parent company, ByteDance, six months to divest its stakes in the platform. But it drew skepticism from some key lawmakers concerned it was too short of a window for a complex deal that could be worth tens of billions of dollars.
The revised legislation extends the deadline, giving ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok, and a possible three-month extension if a sale is in progress. The bill would also bar the company from controlling TikTok香蕉视频直播檚 secret sauce: the algorithm that feeds users videos based on their interests and has made the platform a trendsetting phenomenon.
TikTok did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday night.
The passage of the legislation is a culmination of long-held bipartisan fears in Washington over Chinese threats and the ownership of TikTok, which is used by 170 million Americans. For years, lawmakers and administration officials have expressed concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data, or influence Americans by suppressing or promoting certain content on TikTok.
香蕉视频直播淐ongress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok or any other individual company,香蕉视频直播� Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell said. 香蕉视频直播淐ongress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.香蕉视频直播�
Opponents of the bill say the Chinese government could easily get information on Americans in other ways, including through commercial data brokers that traffic in personal information. The foreign aid package includes a provision that makes it illegal for data brokers to sell or rent 香蕉视频直播減ersonally identifiable sensitive data香蕉视频直播� to North Korea, China, Russia, Iran or entities in those countries. But it has encountered some pushback, including from the American Civil Liberties Union, which says the language is written too broadly and could sweep in journalists and others who publish personal information.
Many opponents of the TikTok measure argue the best way to protect U.S. consumers is through implementing a comprehensive federal data privacy law that targets all companies regardless of their origin. They also note the U.S. has not provided public evidence that shows TikTok sharing U.S. user information with Chinese authorities, or that Chinese officials have ever tinkered with its algorithm.
香蕉视频直播淏anning TikTok would be an extraordinary step that requires extraordinary justification,香蕉视频直播� said Becca Branum, a deputy director at the Washington-based Center for Democracy & Technology, which advocates for digital rights. 香蕉视频直播淓xtending the divestiture deadline neither justifies the urgency of the threat to the public nor addresses the legislation香蕉视频直播檚 fundamental constitutional flaws.香蕉视频直播�
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat who voted for the legislation, said he has concerns about TikTok, but he香蕉视频直播檚 also worried the bill could have negative effects on free speech, doesn香蕉视频直播檛 do enough to protect consumer privacy and could potentially be abused by a future administration to violate First Amendment rights.
香蕉视频直播淚 plan to watchdog how this legislation is implemented,香蕉视频直播� Wyden said in a statement.
China has previously said it would oppose a forced sale of TikTok, and has signaled its opposition this time around. TikTok, which has long denied it香蕉视频直播檚 a security threat, is also preparing a lawsuit to block the legislation.
香蕉视频直播淎t the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge,香蕉视频直播� Michael Beckerman, TikTok香蕉视频直播檚 head of public policy for the Americas, wrote in a memo sent to employees on Saturday and obtained by The Associated Press.
香蕉视频直播淭his is the beginning, not the end of this long process,香蕉视频直播� Beckerman wrote.
The company has seen some success with court challenges in the past, but it has never sought to prevent federal legislation from going into effect.
In November, that would ban TikTok use across the state after the company and five content creators who use the platform sued. Three years before that, federal courts an executive order issued by then-President Donald Trump to ban TikTok after the company sued on the grounds that the order violated free speech and due process rights.
The Trump administration then brokered a deal that had U.S. corporations Oracle and Walmart take a large stake in TikTok. But the sale never went through.
Trump, who is running for president again this year, now says he opposes the potential ban.
Since then, TikTok has been in negotiations about its future with the secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a little-known government agency tasked with investigating corporate deals for national security concerns.
On Sunday, Erich Andersen, a top attorney for ByteDance who led talks with the U.S. government for years, told his team that he was stepping down from his role.
香蕉视频直播淎s I started to reflect some months ago on the stresses of the last few years and the new generation of challenges that lie ahead, I decided that the time was right to pass the baton to a new leader,香蕉视频直播� Andersen wrote in an internal memo that was obtained by the AP. He said the decision to step down was entirely his and was decided months ago in a discussion with the company香蕉视频直播檚 senior leaders.
Meanwhile, TikTok content creators who rely on the app have been . Earlier Tuesday, some creators congregated in front the Capitol building to speak out against the bill and carry signs that read 香蕉视频直播淚香蕉视频直播檓 1 of the 170 million Americans on TikTok,香蕉视频直播� among other things.
Tiffany Cianci, a content creator who has more than 140,000 followers on the platform and had encouraged people to show up, said she spent Monday night picking up creators from airports in the D.C. area. Some came from as far as Nevada and California. Others drove overnight from South Carolina or took a bus from upstate New York.
Cianci says she believes TikTok is the safest platform for users right now because of Project Texas, TikTok香蕉视频直播檚 $1.5 billion mitigation plan to store U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by the tech giant Oracle.
香蕉视频直播淚f our data is not safe on TikTok,香蕉视频直播� she said. 香蕉视频直播淚 would ask .香蕉视频直播�
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