The House voted overwhelmingly to pass legislation that will force TikTok to separate itself from its parent company in China or be banned in the United States, a major step toward a crackdown motivated by fears that the popular social media company could be used for spying or manipulation by the Chinese Communist Party.
The House voted 352-65 on Wednesday to pass the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The bill, introduced by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), would make it unlawful for app stores or web hosting services to provide services to social media applications owned and operated by the Chinese company ByteDance. This includes TikTok, which is one of the larger social media platforms in the U.S. If TikTok wants to continue operating within the U.S. after the act’s passage, it will have to separate itself entirely from ByteDance. While TikTok is presenting the legislation as a “complete ban” of the app, the bill’s author and supporters have emphasized that it is not a ban but merely an attempt to separate the app from Chinese influence.
“Our intention is for TikTok to continue to operate but not under the control of the Chinese Communist Party,” bill co-sponsor Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) said during debate.
Fifteen Republicans and 50 Democrats voted against the bill, an unusual alliance of lawmakers on the left and right edges of the House. The opponents included Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
The bill also gives the White House the power to designate other social media apps controlled by foreign adversaries — Russia, North Korea, China, and Iran. If designated, the companies will have to divest or be banned in the U.S.
TikTok slammed the House for the bill’s passage, alleging that the bill’s development was “secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: It’s a ban.”
Legislators and national security experts have heavily scrutinized TikTok for several years. They claim that the app is sharing U.S. user data with ByteDance and that the Chinese Communist Party could access this shared data due to China’s national security laws. TikTok has attempted to address these claims by creating “Project Texas,” a $1.5 billion partnership with Oracle in which all American data from TikTok users is stored. There is evidence of TikTok spying on journalists and storing some U.S. user data in China.
Investigators also have determined that TikTok could be used to influence elections.
“TikTok accounts run by a PRC propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the U.S. midterm election cycle in 2022,” a March 2023 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded.
President Joe Biden affirmed that he would sign the legislation into law if both the House and Senate passed the bill.
The bill does have some opposition in the Senate, and TikTok’s lobbying arm has said it hopes senators will “consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has promised to block the measure, arguing that it is unconstitutional.
But the legislation gained support from key senators following House passage Wednesday. The top members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), said in a statement that they look “forward to working together to get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law.” Warner was the author of legislation in 2023 that would require the Commerce Department to establish procedures for limiting transactions with companies operating out of foreign adversaries, including TikTok.
Gallagher slammed TikTok’s lobbying arm on Wednesday after the vote, claiming on Fox News that “they’re weaponizing the D.C. swamp against us” and “throwing millions of dollars at the problem.” Much of the pro-TikTok effort is being driven by Republican stakeholders, including GOP major donor Jeff Yass and the Club for Growth. Former Trump senior aide Kellyanne Conway is also helping advocate TikTok on the Hill.
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Yass and Conway’s influence may have played a role in former President Donald Trump’s opposition to the bill. Trump said it would help Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg “double his business.”
The statement marked a reversal for Trump, who had tried to ban TikTok in 2020 through an executive order.
