A Bill That Could Ban TikTok Across America Just Unanmiously Advanced in the U.S. House

The headline of this article is not hyperbole.

A federal ban on the very popular social media app TikTok could be coming to the United States, and it sounds like it could happen relatively soon. In fact, Thursday's news marks the most serious attempt at banning the app from the United States.

House lawmakers just voted to advance a bill that could ban TikTok from US app stores unless their parent company, ByteDance, divests TikTok.

The bill was unanimously approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday afternoon as they cited security concerns connected to the app's relationship with the Chinese government. 

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If the bill is enacted it would give ByteDance five months to sell TikTok. If they don’t, their app would be removed from the app stores for Google, Apple, and others.

It’s the most serious piece of federal legislation that will target the company. The company's CEO has testified that the app poses no threat to the security of Americans, but the bipartisan move today shows the concern of the federal government.

“It’s not a ban,” Winsconsin Republican Representative Mike Gallagher said. “It puts the choice squarely in the hands of TikTok to sever their relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. As long as ByteDance no longer owns the company, TikTok can continue to survive.”

If the bill makes it to the House floor it’s likely to receive a ton of support from lawmakers, who do say they’ve been flooded with phone calls from concerned teenagers.

“People can continue to do all the dumb dance videos they want on the platform, or communicate with their friends, and all that stuff. But the basic ownership structure has to change,” Gallagher said on Thursday.