The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a bill that gives Chinese company ByteDance about six months to sell TikTok’s US assets. About 170 million Americans use the short-video app. If its parent company refuses to sell, the social network will be banned in the United States.
352 legislators voted for the bill, 65 voted against.
Last year, US government officials were told to remove TikTok from all computers and phones they use. At the same time, the bill noted that this rule applies to any applications of ByteDance.
The governments of Canada and several other countries also introduced a similar ban. They fear that TikTok is connected to the Chinese authorities and may transfer user data to them.
There is growing concern in Washington about high-tech Chinese spying, from connected electric vehicles to advanced artificial intelligence chips and even Chinese cranes in American ports.
However, the fate of the bill to ban TikTok in the Senate is still unclear. Democrats have the majority of votes there. And they advocate a different approach to regulating foreign apps that pose a threat to national security.
