A bipartisan measure that could potentially ban social media giant TikTok took a step forward Thursday when a House committee unanimously advancing a bill that, if approved, would give the platform’s Chinese parent company ByteDance six months to sell the app or else be banned altogether, as lawmakers ramp up measures against the widely used app.
Some TikTok users received a message Thursday morning asking them to contact their member of ... [+]
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 50-0 on Thursday to advance the bill, which would prevent app stores from listing TikTok for users unless ByteDance divests itself of the app.
The vote comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill face a flood of calls from an unknown number of the roughly 170 million TikTok users in the U.S. who received messages on the app Thursday morning warning them that “Congress is planning a total ban of TikTok,” and urging them to contact their member of Congress.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Congress Is Flooded With Calls After TikTok Asks Users For Support Against Ban (Forbes)
TikTok Targeted In New National Security Bill On Adversary Owned Apps (Forbes)