TikTok Facing Potential US Ban as Congress Passes Bill Requiring Sale

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The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to pass a bill that will either ban TikTok from app stores operating in the country or force Chinese company ByteDance to sell the short-form video app.

tiktok-logo.jpg

The landmark bill has now passed both chambers of Congress, having already been approved by the House of Representatives. President Biden says he will sign the bill into law on Wednesday.

Once that happens, TikTok will be banned in the United States if ByteDance does not divest ownership within nine months, with a possible three-month extension to that deadline if a deal is in progress. China would need to approve any sale, but the Chinese government has already made it clear that it will "firmly oppose" such a move.

ByteDance is also expected to launch a legal challenge against the bill by arguing that it will deprive the app's 170 million U.S. users of their First Amendment rights protecting freedom of speech.

U.S. lawmakers want TikTok to be sold to a company outside of China over concerns that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over data from users located in the United States. If Beijing made the request, ByteDance would not be able to refuse. There have also been suggestions that Chinese authorities could use TikTok to spread political propaganda.

ByteDance has attempted to alleviate these fears by storing data from U.S. users on servers owned by Oracle, but the White House and lawmakers do not believe that is enough. There are a limited number of companies that would be able to afford TikTok, while most tech giants would likely be prevented from acquiring it due to antitrust concerns.

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Article Link: TikTok Facing Potential US Ban as Congress Passes Bill Requiring Sale
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/24/tiktok-facing-us-ban-congress-passes-bill/
lxmeta

lxmeta

macrumors regular
Not using it and do not care about that app.
But the argument is quite iconic! US bans the app for pretty much the same legal framework that exists in the US.
No, the "but we are the good ones, so we can't do evil" does not count.
 
4

4nNtt

macrumors 6502a
It is always scary when the left and the right unite against first amendment rights. If there is any credibility to their concerns, it could be solved by requiring algorithms to be transparent. This authoritarian approach will hopefully be shot down by the courts.
 
4

4nNtt

macrumors 6502a
klasma said:
I don’t think freedom of speech applies after death.
Click to expand...
It does. We don’t ban the speech of citizens. We don’t ban the speech of other nations including adversaries. We don’t ban the speech of companies. We don’t ban the speech of the deceased. There are some limited channels where we do ban speech if there is literally no other solution to an immediate threat. We certainly have not reached that point. Simply requiring the algorithms to be transparent in social media would be enough.
 
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