U.S. House of Representatives fast-tracks TikTok ban by adding it to foreign aid package

The future of TikTok in the United States just got a lot more bleak. The House of Representatives passed new legislation Saturday that could fast-track a nationwide ban of the app if it does not find a U.S. buyer in the extended time frame of one year.

The House voted 360-58 to attach a new TikTok bill to a multi-million dollar foreign aid package to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The new bill gives the app another six months to find a U.S. buyer after Senate concerns over the timeline. The Senate could vote on the package as early as Tuesday.

“It elevates the risk of TikTok being banned by like 1,000%,” said Jack Murphy, a sophomore political science major and USC Reach member. “I didn’t think that the TikTok ban really had much validity to it as far as getting to the Senate, but now being attached to that aid bill, I think it is, like so much more likely it will be banned.”

Last month, the House passed a bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless the Beijing-based parent company ByteDance divests to a U.S. buyer. The original bill gave TikTok six months to be banned from the U.S. The new bill now gives TikTok nine months to sell with a three-month grace period.

The bill comes after concerns over national security threats and data privacy risks with the apps connections to China. The Biden Administration has stated that it would sign the bill into the law.

TikTok is already banned from all federal and state-issued devices in most states but Montana’s attempted state-wide ban was blocked in November over violations of First Amendment rights.

If the TikTok ban is signed into law, a legal battle would likely ensue and TikTok would likely challenge the ban. TikTok CEO Shou Zi has stated that he will do everything in his power to fight for their rights and the rights of users.

In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Wednesday night, TikTok said, “It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the U.S. economy, annually.”

“I think that they know that attaching it to something so political and so detrimental to what’s going on in the Middle East and in Ukraine [is] going to force the Senate to have to act and TikTok is just gonna be like collateral damage in the middle of it,” Murphy said.