The US Senate passed the TikTok ban law

Updated Wednesday, April 24th: According to the New York Times, after congressional approval, the Senate reportedly passed the bill to ban TikTok from the United States last night. The timeframe for ByteDance to find an American buyer for the app has been extended from six months to one year, but the vote concluded at 79-18. Now the final decision rests with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, who has already indicated that, should the bill land on his desk, he would be ready to approve it.

Almost a year has passed since the first American hearing for the TikTok ban, when the House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned CEO Shou Zi Chew about user data usage. TikTok's CEO will be a guest of honor at the Met Gala, but yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives reportedly passed a bill to fully ban the app's access on U.S. soil or its sale to an American company. According to congressional sources, the company behind the social platform ByteDance is collecting personal information from TikTok's 170 million American users for political purposes. Hence, a new draft named Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act has been introduced, which would compel ByteDance to sell or remove TikTok from U.S. App Stores. Despite passing in Congress, the fate of the new law against TikTok now lies with the Senate.

In the House of Representatives, a majority of 352 bodies voted in favor of the TikTok ban, but in the Senate, it may not receive as much approval. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has declared fierce opposition to the law, as it could deter young people from voting and violate the First Amendment to freedom of speech. On the other hand, should the bill reach the President, Joe Biden has confirmed his support, leaving ByteDance at a crossroads: sell the app to an American company or remove it from all U.S. App Stores. Initially, in 2020, it was Microsoft that showed interest in acquiring the platform, but even though it was ultimately Oracle who came close to sealing the deal, TikTok was not sold. Therefore, the issue now is even more complex than it was four years ago: the app's price has skyrocketed, but if forced to sell, it could plummet. It's unpredictable what would happen on the streets of the country if TikTok vanished from all American phones: last spring, after the March hearing, ByteDance had invited some creators to speak out on the issue in front of the Capitol.