TikTok is facing more and more opposition in the US as the House of Representatives unanimously approved the bill seeking to ban the video-sharing app in the country.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, on Thursday, voted 50-0 to the proposed bill aimed to ban TikTok's parent company ByteDance and all affiliated apps "controlled by foreign adversary companies" from the US.
TikTok has earlier been warned to urge the Chinese-based ByteDance to divest from the company or else face the ban. The bill only gives the platform 165 days to finalize the divestment once the legislation comes to pass.
Several representatives cited concerns about China being able to access Americans' data via ByteDance for approving the bill.
It is worth noting that all US user's data is already stored in a separate cloud drive that cannot be accessed by ByteDance in accordance with TikTok's agreement with the US government.
The full House panel is set to deliberate on the bill next week before it is passed to the Senate.
Lawmakers Skirt Around First Amendment to Ban TikTok
The bill is part of the ongoing government efforts to keep TikTok from anything related to China without violating the First Amendment.
Previous state legislation seeking to ban the app has been junked by federal courts over perceived violations of free speech.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the video-sharing site blasted the House panel decision for "attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression."
Our statement on today's Committee vote: "This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States. The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression. This will damage millions of…
— TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) March 7, 2024
It can be remembered that TikTok and CEO Shou Zi Chew repeatedly denied leaking data or having direct affiliation with the Chinese government over several Senate hearings.
TikTok Users Launch Protests Vs House Panel Ruling
Amid the House panel ruling, TikTok has been reported to be urging its users to protest against the looming ban on the app.
According to a New York Times report, Congress members received several phone calls from TikTok users, many of which from younger generations, asking why the government is seeking to ban the app.
Several users said they found out about the ban from a message popping up when opening TikTok calling to "stop a TikTok shutdown."
Users reported being unable to scroll out of the message for quite some time.
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