Biden’s intelligence agencies support the ban and briefed House members this week — claiming TikTok accounts run by China’s government have already meddled in U.S. elections.

By Rebecca Kern | POLITICO

The House passed a bill on Wednesday that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the app or face a ban on U.S. app stores — posing the most serious threat to the popular video-sharing platform to date.

The measure earned wide bipartisan support — passing 352-65 — with backing from House Speaker Mike Johnson and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Its “no” votes spanned a wide ideological range, including both conservative lawmakers like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who raised Amendment concerns, and progressives like Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) who say Congress should pass privacy legislation covering all social media sites, not just TikTok.

The bill would force Bytedance, TikTok’s Beijing-based owner, to sell the app within six months or face a ban on U.S. app stores and websites.

It’s also directed at all apps controlled by any foreign adversary, including China, North Korea, Russia and Iran. The bill’s sponsors — Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) — say ByteDance poses a national security threat due to its alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Biden’s intelligence agencies support the bill and briefed House members this week — claiming TikTok accounts run by China’s government have already meddled in U.S. elections.

It now heads to the Senate, where its fate is unclear.

Scalise downplays concern TikTok bill will hurt young voteShare

Senators from both parties have expressed some concerns about the bill, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not committed to bringing it to the floor. Schumer said in a statement Wednesday that his chamber will review the bill. President Joe Biden said he’d sign the measure if it reaches his desk.

However, Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Vice Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) endorsed the bill after the vote.

The lawmakers said in a statement, “We are united in our concern about the national security threat posed by TikTok” and “look forward to working together to get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law.”

Last year, Warner’s RESTRICT Act took a broader swing at technologies from foreign adversaries, but faced backlash from Republicans who said it gave the administration too much power.

The vote on the fast-tracked bill capped a week of frenzied pressure by TikTok, which held rallies outside of the Capitol and enlisted conservative lobbyists, video creators and its own users to try to derail the legislation. The company got a boost from former president Donald Trump, who tried and failed to ban it with an executive order in 2020, but unexpectedly pivoted to supporting the company last week.

TikTok said in a statement following the vote that “the bill was jammed through for one reason: it’s a ban.” The company said, “We are hopeful that the Senate 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.”

China says potential TikTok ban is ‘bullying’ and will ‘backfire’Share

Republicans were largely unmoved by Trump’s opposition, though a handful of MAGA conservatives, like Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), voted against the bill.

Another top detractor was Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who posted on X, “I suspect that there is a way to address the challenge posed by TikTok that is consistent with our commitment to freedom of expression.”

Other key players in the Senate appear far less enthusiastic than members of the House.

Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) — whose committee is a gatekeeper for any Senate TikTok measures — threw cold water on the House bill.

“I’m glad they brought up a subject, but we got to get a real solution. That one, I don’t think will make it all the way through,” she said earlier this week.

She instead wants to push her own bill — the GUARD Act, which would allow the Commerce Department to regulate TikTok and other foreign apps without banning them fully. It has not been introduced.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has said would object to a request to pass the bill unanimously, requiring Democratic leaders to spend more floor time ahead of a roll-call vote.

Paul has raised First Amendment concerns about the government banning a form of communication that’s used by 170 million American users, which civil liberties groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have also raised. A law in Montana seeking to ban TikTok was blocked by a judge late last year over claims it violates the First Amendment.

The company has partnered with Oracle to store U.S. data on domestic servers to alleviate concerns the Chinese government can access Americans’ data. ##