The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a bill that forces TikTok to separate from its Chinese owner or be banned from entering the US.
Lawmakers voted 352 for and 65 against the proposed law in a rare moment of bipartisan unity, CNN reported.
The decision will be a major setback for the video-sharing app, which has skyrocketed in popularity around the world while also sparking nervousness over its Chinese ownership and potential subservience to the Communist Party in Beijing.
The bill's fate is uncertain in the Senate, where some key figures fear taking such a drastic move against an app that has 170 million users in the United States.
President Joe Biden will sign the bill, known formally as the "Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act," if it reaches his desk, the White House said.
The measure, which only gained momentum in the past few days, requires TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell the app within 180 days or have it excluded from Apple and Google's U.S. app stores.
It also empowers the president to designate other apps as a threat to national security if they are under the control of a country considered an adversary of the United States.
Washington's revivalist campaign against TikTok was a surprise to the company, but TikTok executives were reassured when Biden joined the app last month as part of its campaign for a second mandate.
TikTok CEO Shaw Zee Chew is in Washington trying to rally support to stop the bill.
"This legislation, which is being pushed through with unprecedented speed without even the benefit of a public hearing, raises serious constitutional concerns," wrote Michael Beckerman, TikTok's vice president for public policy.
The co-sponsors, House Republican Mike Gallagher and House Democrat Raja Krishnamorthy, as well as the White House, argue that the bill is not a ban on TikTok as long as the company separates itself from ByteDance.
Today, China warned that the move "will inevitably backfire on the United States."
"Although the United States has never found evidence that TikTok threatens the country's national security, it has not stopped suppressing TikTok," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, condemning it as "hooligan behavior."
Republican lawmakers approved the bill, an unusual act of defiance against Donald Trump.
Unlike his previous stance, Trump this week said he opposed the ban mainly because it would strengthen Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, which he has called "the enemy of the people."
When Trump was president, he tried to seize control of Tiktok from ByteDance but was blocked by US courts.
Trump has dismissed accusations that he changed his mind because a major investor in TikTok, hedge financier Jeff Yass, is making donations to his 2024 election campaign.
"I think the bill will 'die' in the Senate," said Rep. Nancy Mays, a Trump ally. "It's none of our business."
Previous attempts to ban TikTok have failed,. A bill proposed a year ago went nowhere largely because of free speech concerns.
Similarly, a state law passed in Montana banning the platform was halted by a federal court over suspicions that it violated constitutional free speech rights.
TikTok vehemently denies any ties to the Chinese government and has restructured the company so that U.S. users' data remains in the country, its officials say. / BGNES
