TikTok on Sunday reiterated free speech concerns about a bill that was passed by the US House Saturday. The measure would ban the popular social media app in the US if its Chinese owner ByteDance did not sell its stake within a year.
The house approved the legislation 360-58 which was a part of a broader foreign aid package. The senate is expected to vote on it this week and President Joe Biden has said he would sign it.
In a statement 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.”
Many US lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties and the Biden administration say TikTok poses national security risks because China could compel the company to share the data of its 170 million US users.
TikTok insists it has never shared US data and never would. Democratic US Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Sunday Told CBS News TikTok could be used as a propaganda tool by the Chinese government.
While Democratic US Representative Ro Khanna told ABC News Sunday that a TikTok ban may not survive legal scrutiny in courts, citing the US Constitution’s free speech protections.
The House voted on March 13 to give ByteDance about six months to divest the US assets of the short-video app or face a ban. The legislation passed on Saturday extends that deadline.
Source: SABC
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