On Wednesday, April 24, President Biden signed a bill banning TikTok if its parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell the platform within the next 270 days.
United States government officials began raising concerns about the popular social media app in 2020, fearing that the Chinese government was using TikTok as a means to spy on, access data, and spread misinformation to its American users. The Senate passed the bill, 79 to 18, late on April 23, three days after it was approved in the House, 360 to 58, on Saturday.
If ByteDance fails to sell TikTok within the permitted time frame, the platform will be prohibited from U.S. app stores and internet services. “I don’t think it is necessary, but it will definitely be good for my mental health if TikTok does get banned,” said Junior Sasha Barr. TikTok, with 170 million American users and 7 million businesses that operate on the app, has threatened legal action against the bill. CEO Shou Chew stated in a video posted to the app, “Rest assured: we aren’t going anywhere.”
