On Wednesday, March 13, the House of Representatives voted on a bill that could impact the future of TikTok in the United States. The bill passed with a staggering vote of 352-65. The bill was then passed through the Senate this Tuesday, and as of today, April 24, the bill was officially signed into law by President Biden.
While many people see it as a bill banning the popular app, sponsors of the bill want to make it clear that is not the case. “What we’re after is, it’s not a ban, it’s a forced separation,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis told NPR.
So… What is the TikTok bill?
Before you panic, the bill doesn’t immediately ban TikTok. The bill essentially gives TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, the option to sell the app to a U.S. company. If ByteDance doesn’t want to divest, then TikTok would face a ban in the U.S.
The bill comes after lawmakers’ concerns over national security with the app. Officials are concerned about the app collecting data on its vast millions of users in America, and that the data could be given to Chinese authorities. The concerns of national security regarding the app are nothing new, and there have been past attempts to shutter the app.
What happens next?
For the last few weeks, the bill’s future has been uncertain, but now that Biden has officially signed the bill, the app is facing a ban. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has 12 months to divest from the app to avoid a ban. While this is major news, your scrolling won’t be interrupted right away. Legal delays are expected, along with time to sell the app if ByteDance decides to divest. Either way, the future is still uncertain, but a ban is definitely a possibility.