House of Representatives approves bill to ban TikTok in US

On March 13, the US House of Representatives voted for a bill that would ban TikTok in the States. Now the document is sent to the Senate, many of whose members have expressed support for banning the popular social network, writes CNN.

Photo: IStock/5./15 WEST

Although it is not yet possible to say with certainty what the fate of the bill will be in the Senate. In the House, 352 congressmen supported the ban, 65 were against it.

Parliamentarians supporting the bill argue that TikTok poses a threat to US national security because the social network is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. American politicians believe that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over data from American app users to intelligence agencies. By the way, approximately 170 million Americans have TikTok accounts.

If the bill comes into force, ByteDance will be given approximately five months to sell TikTok to another owner (not in China). If ByteDance fails to do so, Apple, Google and other US mobile app retailers will be required to remove TikTok from their stores. Old users will still have the application, but it will not be possible to update it.

On the subject: Florida wants to ban children under 16 from using social media

TikTok called the bill "an attack on its users' constitutional right to freedom of expression." The app launched a campaign urging users to call congressmen in Washington and oppose the bill. Several parliamentarians said they were “inundated with calls” in support of the social network.

“We hope the Senate will consider the facts, listen to its constituents, and recognize the economic impact of the 7 million small businesses and 170 million Americans who rely on our services,” TikTok said after the House vote.

Representatives of the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner (Democrat from Virginia) and Marco Rubio (Republican from Florida) called for support for a ban on TikTok in the United States.

“We are united in confronting the national security threat that TikTok poses. It is a platform with enormous power to influence Americans, whose parent company ByteDance is legally obligated to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party,” Warner and Rubio said in a joint statement.

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Anti-Semitism on TikTok

Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) consistently support the bill. They sent a formal appeal to Congress in support of banning TikTok.

“Our community understands that social media has become a major driver of the rise in anti-Semitism, and TikTok certainly plays a key role in this,” the letter said. “Anti-Semitism is a threat not only to the Jewish community, but to all Americans. A society that fails to control the virus of anti-Semitism will soon face an existential threat to its fundamental foundations.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League of the United States, horrific Hamas attacks on Israel October 7 provoked a 336% increase in anti-Semitism. In just one year, the number of anti-Semitic comments on TikTok increased by 912%.

The chain's parent company is accountable to the Chinese government, which has taken a clear anti-Israel stance since October 7th. China has filled state-controlled media and social networks with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric.

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