House Votes on TikTok Ban Amid Security Fears

There’s a growing push to ban TikTok in the United States, with the House of Representatives set to vote on a bipartisan bill today. If it passes, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would be forced to sell the app’s U.S. operations or risk a nationwide ban.

This effort comes amidst a long-standing policy that prevents U.S.-based social media platforms from operating in China, due to stringent security and privacy regulations often referred to as the Great Firewall.

Raising the Alarm: National Security and Mental Health Issues

TikTok’s data, which may fall into the hands of the Chinese government, is sounding national security alarm bells in the U.S. The fear is that ByteDance could use the app’s powerful algorithm to spy on and sway users with targeted content.

On top of that, concerns about the addictive nature of TikTok and its negative impact on mental health are growing, especially among parents and experts. With around 150 million American users, the implications of the government’s decision on TikTok are huge.

The Rocky Road to Banning TikTok

Banning TikTok in the U.S. is not a novel idea—President Donald Trump once tried to force a sale of the app to Oracle, only to be blocked by legal hurdles and injunctions. Although the Biden administration initially pumped the brakes on a ban to conduct a security review, ongoing anxieties about TikTok’s Chinese connections and privacy issues have forged a rare bipartisan agreement, highlighted by a key House hearing in March. Adding to the drama, a judge in Montana recently overturned a state-level TikTok ban, citing constitutional concerns and an overstepping of state powers.

Uncertain Fate for Anti-TikTok Legislation and Political Maneuvering

While it’s likely that the anti-TikTok bill will make it through the House, its future in the Senate is less clear. President Biden, though, seems ready to support a ban if the bill lands on his desk. Complicating matters is the Biden campaign’s reliance on TikTok to connect with young voters—a strategy kicked off on Super Bowl Sunday.

Meanwhile, former President Trump has softened his stance on the ban, wary of alienating young people and inadvertently helping rival platforms like Facebook. Amidst all this, other companies, including Rumble, are expressing interest in acquiring TikTok’s U.S. operations, while competitors like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels wait in the wings, ready to scoop up any users displaced by a ban.