House committee approves bill that would ban TikTok

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously passed the bi-partisan measure on Thursday with a 50-0 panel vote. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act aims to bolster national security by banning the use of apps run by foreign adversaries, namely TikTok. Leaders have long voiced security concerns about the widespread use of the short-form video app, with the parent company ByteDance based in the People’s Republic of China. Lawmakers are particularly concerned about how the company uses and stores data collected from users.

The legislation now heads to the House floor for consideration. President Joe Biden fully supports the measure, with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying, “This bill is important, we welcome this step.” Biden signed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act in 2022 banning federal employees from downloading the app to government devices. Ironically, Biden started campaigning to young voters on TikTok several weeks ago under the handle “BidenHQ.” Former President Donald Trump attempted to ban TikTok in 2020 with an executive order, which was later blocked by a federal judge.

What exactly does the bill do? The legislation gives ByteDance 180 days to divest from the app and give a non-PRC company control. Otherwise, the legislation will bar domestic app stores and web services from hosting the app. The bill also requires that users must be given a copy of their data from the application “in a format that can be imported into an alternative social media application,” according to a statement released on Tuesday by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

Isn’t this considered government censorship? Free speech organizations have argued that a TikTok ban would violate the constitutional right to free speech. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party insists the measure does not constitute speech regulation. Leaders noted that the measure “is focused entirely on foreign adversary control—not the content of speech being shared,” in a statement released on Tuesday.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Jackson’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about how TikTok influences the mental health of teenagers.