On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would lead to a TikTok ban if ByteDance, its Chinese owner, did not divest the US assets of the short-video application within six months, as concerns were raised over a critical national security issue.
The bill was approved in a bipartisan vote of 352–65 and passed on to the Senate.
Meanwhile, though the majority of the representatives agreed with the bill and urged the Senate to swiftly take action, some were uncertain about the matter as they raised questions about serious antitrust and privacy concerns.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew stated in a video, which was posted after the bill was passed, that the bill would take millions of dollars away from creators and small businesses, while also adding that the company would exercise its legal rights to counteract and prevent the ban.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also criticized the US legislation as being persistent toward TikTok, even though it had never found any evidence indicating that the platform was a threat to its national security.
