On Wednesday, March 13, the U.S. House of Representatives supported a bill to ban TikTok in the United States. The bill requires the video service to be separated from the Chinese parent company ByteDance within 6 months, and if this does not happen, TikTok will be banned in the country.
352 congressmen voted in favor of the bill, while 65 voted against it. After that, it goes to the upper house, the Senate, where it can wait for some time due to more urgent matters. President Biden has already announced that he will sign the bill if it passes the Senate and reaches his desk.
«Communist China is America’s greatest geopolitical enemy and uses technology to actively undermine America’s economy and security. Today’s bipartisan vote demonstrates Congress’s opposition to Communist China’s attempts to spy on and manipulate Americans, and shows our resolve to deter our enemies,» Speaker Mike Johnson said after the vote.
Fifty Democrats and 15 Republicans voted against the bill. Among them was a well-known supporter of Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Green from Georgia. The top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, also puzzled his colleagues by voting against the bill.
«They are closing newspapers, broadcasting stations and social media platforms. We are not doing that. We believe that our citizens will be worthy of their democracy. We don’t trust our government to decide what information they can or cannot see,» Himes said.
The vote took place against the backdrop of protests that have been taking place in the United States in recent days. Many entrepreneurs do business on TikTok, advertising and selling goods and services. For some, it is almost the only source of income.
Source: NBC News