(UnitedVoice.com) – Former President Donald Trump banned TikTok when he was in office. When he lost the election, President Joe Biden rescinded the ban. Lawmakers are still concerned about the social media platform and passed a bill recently to deal with it.
On Saturday, April 20, the House voted on a massive foreign aid package. One of the ways leadership tried to sweeten the pot for Republicans is by adding a bill related to TikTok. The bill came a month after the House passed another piece of legislation to ban the social media app. That one languished in the Senate with Democrats not moving to bring it to the floor.
The latest iteration of the ban would prohibit its use in the United States if the Chinese-based owner, ByteDance, doesn’t sell its stake within the next nine months. However, the president could extend the time and allow the company a year to make the change. That would ensure the ban did not go into effect before the 2024 election, something many political pundits believe could severely hurt lawmakers’ chances of being reelected. It passed the House by a margin of 360 to 58.
Because the bill is part of a larger aid package, it has a better chance of passing the Senate this time around.
TikTok responded to the ban on Saturday. Reuters reported the company issued a statement calling the ban “unfortunate” and accusing the House of using the “cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to… jam through a ban” that would violate the First Amendment. The company has long argued that a prohibition of an app that 170 million Americans use is a violation of free speech. Legal experts have expressed similar concerns and even likened the ban to the Chinese Communist government’s tight control of media in its country.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will hold a vote on April 23 on the aid package.
Copyright 2024, UnitedVoice.com
