Lawmakers have found a new weapon in their quest to ban TikTok: linking the forced divestment bill, which passed the House last month, to aid packages for Ukraine, Isr.
Lawmakers have found a new weapon in their quest to ban TikTok: linking the forced divestment bill, which passed the House last month, to aid packages for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Congress is expected to vote on the new legislation on Saturday.
Speaker Mike Johnson is leading the charge. He hopes Senators will be more inclined to vote on and pass the bill, which would force TikTok to find a new, non-Chinese owner or face a ban in the US, if they are under pressure to do so to secure foreign aid.
There are some signs that the aid-tied bill will have a better chance at Senate passage. Senator Maria Cantwell, the Commerce Committee chair, announced she supported the “updated” legislation due to the extension it grants TikTok to find a buyer (up to a year, compared to the original bill’s six month window). That revised timeline means the potential ban would only be enforced after the presidential election, though the platform’s status as a crucial election tool would be preserved throughout this campaign cycle.
However, the new version of the bill does nothing to assuage other concerns Senators have, including regarding the legislation’s constitutionality and whether it will hold up in court.
Johnson is attempting to advance the TikTok bill as the issue becomes an increasingly overt thorn in US-China relations. TikTok reportedly came up when President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke on the phone earlier this month and the Chinese side brought up the TikTok bill in talks with Treasury Secretary Yellen during her recent trip to China.
The Chinese government has consistently condemned the TikTok bill on the grounds that it is unfair and anti-competitive. In March, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the US has never found any evidence of national security threats posed by TikTok, but has persisted in efforts to ban it anyway.
“Resorting to hegemonic moves when one could not succeed in fair competition disrupts the normal operation of businesses, undermines the confidence of international investors in the investment environment, sabotages the normal economic and trade order in the world and will eventually backfire on the US itself,” he said.
