US President Joe Biden has officially signed a law that could ban the popular short-form video social app TikTok in the United States if it is not sold to another entity, just hours after it has been passed in the Senate.
The new law will enable TikTok to operate in the US if they can find a new company to sell the app to within 270 days, around nine months, or else face a ban in the country. This is not the first time the US government has tried to ban the app from the country, with former President Donald Trump trying to do the same in 2020 and several US states including Montana and Texas.
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- It Begins: Montana Becomes First US State to Ban TikTok
The New York Times reports that the President has made the bill into law, with the US Congress citing that this is a measure to safeguard 170 million Americans who regularly use the platform after several months of hearings with TikTok’s top executives appearing on US Congress hearing sessions. Various security experts have been said to criticize the app as the Chinese government could lean on ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to access sensitive data, or use the platform to spread Chinese propaganda.
TikTok vows to challenge the newly enacted law in the higher federal courts. “Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere,” said Shou Chew, TikTok CEO, on a video posted to the platform. “We are confident, and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts.” TikTok launched in 2016 as Douyin in China by Bytedance, before expanding globally as TikTok. The app currently has over 1 billion active users worldwide.
