WASHINGTON D.C. (CelebrityAccess) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation on Tuesday that would compel ByteDance, the Chinese company behind the popular social media app TikTok to sell the platform or face a ban in the U.S.
The bill, H.R.7521 would give ByteDance about 6 months to divest TikTok and prevent the company from operating any successor application or service and any other application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Ltd. or an entity under the control of ByteDance Ltd in the U.S.
The proposed legislation would also give the president new powers to designate ‘apps of concern’ that pose potential national security risks such as foreign adversaries using those apps to spy on Americans, Reuters reported.
“This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users. America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States,” Representative Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin) said, according to Reuters.
The bill is the first legislation to address TikTok since senate legislation to ban the platform stalled last year in the face of heavy lobbying from the social media platform.
A spokesperson for Tiktok described the proposed bill as an attempt to ban TikTok and a violation of civil liberties.
“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,” the spokesperson told Reuters.
