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TikTok may lose access to its largest market worldwide, with the US House of Representatives planning a vote on a bill requiring ByteDance, the short-video platform’s parent company, to sell TikTok within six months or face a ban, Reuters reported.
Lawmakers advanced the bill proposal after a confidential briefing on the national security risks from TikTok’s Chinese ownership.
Meanwhile, TikTok insists it has not and will not share US user information with the Chinese government. The company is also unsure whether China would approve of a sale and if it can be achieved within the six-month timeframe.
Should the bill be approved, it would give ByteDance 165 days to separate from TikTok. Failure to do so would ban app stores like those operated by Apple and Google from hosting TikTok and other ByteDance-owned apps legally.
If the bill is passed, it could set a precedent for handling security concerns over other China-linked apps. When asked if the bill would affect messaging platform WeChat, Mike Gallagher – a member of the US House of Representatives and the head of its select China committee – said that “going forward, we can debate what companies” the bill can apply to.
This isn’t the first time the US government has made efforts to ban TikTok. In 2020, former president Donald Trump tried to ban both TikTok and WeChat in the country.
See also: TikTok Shop gets winning hand in Indonesia via Tokopedia mega deal
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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