House Republicans break ranks with Trump over TikTok ban bill

Washington: Republicans in the US Congress have broken ranks with Donald Trump by voting to ban TikTok unless the popular video sharing app splits from its Chinese parent company.

Amid fears the popular video app poses national security risks, Republicans in the House of Representatives joined forces with Democrats on Wednesday to overwhelmingly pass a contentious bill that would force its Chinese-based owner, ByteDance, to sell to a non-Chinese company or face a national ban.

President Joe Biden on TikTok.

The bipartisan vote in an otherwise deeply divided Congress passed with the support of 352 members compared to 65 who opposed it, in a sweeping rebuke of the app, which is used by 170 million Americans.

It also came despite Trump voicing his opposition this week, warning on CNBC that “there are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it”.

Among the national security concerns is a fear that the Chinese government could demand the personal data of Americans from ByteDance, and that the company would have to comply under Chinese law.

Governments around the world have raised concerns about TikTok’s alleged data harvesting.Credit: Bloomberg

US politicians worry that TikTok could be used by China to do everything from track the locations of federal workers, conduct corporate espionage, or target political candidates.

“Communist China is America’s largest geopolitical foe and is using technology to actively undermine America’s economy and security,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson in a statement after the vote.

All eyes now turn to the Senate, where the bill faces an uncertain fate and constitutional concerns. If it passes there, President Joe Biden – who joined TikTok ahead of this year’s Super Bowl to ratchet up his 2024 election campaign – says he will sign it into law, effectively banning app stores, such as those operated by Apple and Google, from distributing or updating the app at the risk of hefty corporate penalties.

Opponents of the bill warned it could undermine free speech, hurt businesses that rely on the platform to create content and broaden their reach, and lead to endless challenges in the courts.

TikTok fans gather outside Congress as the House of Representatives votes to ban the social media platform unless it is divested by its Chinese owner.Credit: AP

As president in 2020, Trump signed an executive order trying to ban TikTok unless it was acquired by an American company, but this order never took effect after it was challenged in federal court.

Last week, however, he said that Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook posed a bigger threat.

“I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last election, doing better,” Trump posted without evidence on his Truth Social website. “They are a true enemy of the people.”

In the lead-up to the vote, thousands of users flooded the offices of Congress members with messages urging them to oppose the bill.

House Republicans are at odds with Donald Trump on TikTok.Credit: Bloomberg

“You had member offices being deluged with calls, you know, teenagers crying and one threatening suicide and one impersonating one of my colleague’s sons,” Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher, a co-sponsor of the bill, told NPR.

“That, to me, demonstrates how the platform could be weaponised in the future.”

TikTok had also sent out push alerts telling users: “If the House of Representatives vote to ban TikTok on Wednesday, the government will take away the community that you and millions of other Americans love.”

Users were then able to directly enter their postcodes to call their local member of Congress.

“The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression,” the company said in a statement. “This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.Credit: AP

However, some politicians argued that the legislation wouldn’t necessarily force a ban – unless its parent company refused to divest.

“This is not an attempt to ban TikTok,” former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on the floor of the chamber.

“It’s an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-Tac-Toe. A winner. A winner.”

Under the bill, TikTok must be sold within six months to a buyer who satisfies the government.

This would guarantee that ByteDance no longer has any control over TikTok or its algorithms that recommend content to users.

Florida Democrat Maxwell Frost takes a selfie with Congressional Progressive Caucus members in Washington.Credit: The Washington Post/Elizabeth Frantz

A number of progressive Democrats opposed the bill, including New York firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Florida freshman Maxwell Frost, the first member of Gen Z to be elected to Congress.

Frost, 27, said that any claim that the bill wouldn’t amount to a ban was simply “spin”.

“We’re talking about a very large company; there are only a few players who can afford to buy something like TikTok,” he told reporters.

“So essentially, what this bill is doing is setting up this whole sale to fail.”

They sided with Republican adversaries such as Trump loyalists Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace.

“I believe that this bill can cause future problems,” Greene said. “It’s opening Pandora’s box.”

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