The bill would force ByteDance, the China-based parent company of TikTok, to divest the shortform video app or face a ban of the platform in the U.S.
Introduced by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the top lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” specifically defines ByteDance and TikTok as a foreign adversary controlled application.
The bill also creates a broader framework that would allow the president to designate other foreign adversary controlled applications.
Foreign adversaries under the scope of the bill include China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
The bill would give ByteDance more than five months after the law would go into effect to divest TikTok. If the company does not divest from TikTok, it would become illegal to distribute it through an app store or web hosting platform in the U.S., effectively banning it even among current users.
The bill has more than a dozen bipartisan co-sponsors, with an even split down party lines, according to a committee aide.
It will be considered at Thursday markup in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said the legislation is an “outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it.”
“This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs,” Haurek told The Hill.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
