Posted in: streaming, TV | Tagged: biden, bytedance, TikTok

TikTok Ban Bill Passes U.S. Senate; President Biden Expected to Sign

By a vote of 79-18, the Senate approved a package banning TikTok in the U.S. if ByteDance doesn't divest from the social media company.

Over the weekend – by a final vote of 360-58 (and an amendment vote of 249-267), the U.S. House of Representatives passed foreign aid bills that would bring financial assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, require the Treasury Department to submit a report on Iranian assets & sanction exemptions – and essentially ban TikTok in the United States unless Chinese owner ByteDance divests its stake in the app over growing concerns that TikTok has become a national security threat. Previously, President Joseph Biden went on the record to say that he would sign the legislation if it made it to his desk – and now, it looks like he might want to start warming up that signing pen.

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate approved the $95B aid package (with the TikTok provision) by a vote of 79-18 – with Biden expected to sign the package into law at some point over the next few days. Along with $60B to Ukraine, $26B to Israel & for humanitarian relief in Gaza, and $8B to Taiwan & the Indo-Pacific, the package will give ByteDance nine months to divest – with the POTUS given the option to be able to extend the time to a year.

Different from last month's "Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" that was passed by the House and sent to the Senate, the bills passed over this past weekend saw the move against the social media app attached to important foreign aid support. In addition, some concerns about the previous month's bill were addressed in what was passed – including giving ByteDance a year to find a new TikTok owner, an increase from the previous six-month time limit.

"It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans," said TikTok spokesman Alex Haurek in a statement not long after the final vote count in the House was announced over the weekend, condemning the bill as unconstitutional.

Even with President Biden's signature, there are the expected legal challenges from TikTok and others over First Amendment issues – arguing that millions of users are having their freedom of expression infringed upon over security concerns that have been expressed but haven't been factually proven to exist. According to TikTok, approximately 60% of ByteDance is held by "global institutional investors," which include BlackRock, General Atlantic, Susquehanna International Group, and Sequoia – with 20% owned by the company's Chinese founders and 20% owned by other employees.

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