On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban of the social media app TikTok. If approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Biden, the bill could ban the popular video-sharing app from the United States if its China-based parent company, ByteDance, does not agree to divest its stake in the company. Lawmakers in support of the controversial bill believe TikTok and its current ownership structure is a threat to U.S. national security. Let’s get into the details.
Background
In a rare showing of bipartisan support, the House of Representatives left TikTok with two choices when it passed legislation on Wednesday: the company must either “find a buyer for the immensely popular video app or face a nationwide ban in the U.S.” President Biden indicated that if the bill passed through the Senate, he would sign it into law. According to reports, “Whatever happens with this measure, it marks the first time a chamber of Congress has passed a bill that could shut down a social media platform, a move that civil liberties advocates say tramples on the free speech rights of millions of American users.” The bill gives “Beijing-based tech giant” ByteDance six months to find a new non-Chinese buyer for TikTok.
Bipartisan Backing Amidst Sharp Discord on Free Speech Issues
The TikTok bill highlights the tension between the United States and China, with U.S. lawmakers “tackling what they see as a grave threat to America’s national security” by contending that “ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s consumers in the U.S. whenever it wants.” According to reporting by AP News, “the worry stems from a set of Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.” Proponents of the bill are concerned that TikTok could be used as a tool by the Chinese government to spy on Americans by collecting data through the social media app, “push[ing] pro-China propaganda, or use the service to interfere in U.S. elections.”
ByteDance and Advocates against the bill vehemently deny these allegations and argue that “to date, the U.S. government has not provided evidence that shows TikTok shared such information with Chinese authorities.” TikTok maintains that it has “never received an inquiry for American’s data from Chinese authorities, saying it would deny any such request.” Although the bill garnered widespread support from House Democrats and Republicans, several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle “expressed their opposition to the bill based on free speech concerns and TikTok’s popularity in the United States.”
Some legal experts have said that if the bill were to become law, it would probably face First Amendment scrutiny in the courts.” Civil rights advocates, TikTok users, and opponents of the law may “argue it infringes free speech by preventing users from expressing themselves and businesses from using the app to promote their products.” As such, if the law were to take effect, it would likely face many legal challenges in the courts.
TikTok’s Reaction and China’s Response to Proposed Legislation
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and the Chinese government believe the bill, if signed into law, “would give more power to a handful of other social media companies.” According to a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wan Wenbin, China believes that Washington is using political tools to interfere with business competition. The Chinese oppose a forced sale of TikTok, stating that “according to Chinese law, China’s government must [first] approve the sale of the app.”
According to reporting by NPR, selling TikTok is no small feat. Because it is one of the most popular social media apps in the world, ByteDance would likely sell TikTok at a hefty price (TikTok is worth tens of billions of dollars), meaning “only the biggest tech companies – like Google, Meta, Microsoft or Amazon – could afford [it].” Legal experts argue that “the prospect of TikTok being acquired by a Big Tech firm raises instant antitrust concerns since the Biden administration has taken a tough stance against tech industry mergers that serve to inflate the size and influence of already massive companies.” Accordingly, between the strong opposition by the Chinese government and ByteDance, as well as concerns of free speech and antitrust law violations, the sale of TikTok or its future ban in the United States faces an uphill legal battle.
Uphill Battle: Legal Obstacles Ahead for Government in TikTok Ban Case
The showdown over TikTok between Beijing and Washington exemplifies how major global power players seek to control “a wide range of technologies that could affect national security, free speech, and the social media industry.” Lawmakers must find a path forward that balances national security concerns over data breaches against “a desire not to limit free speech online.”
Legal experts argue that the U.S. government would likely face several legal hurdles in the courts in a First Amendment lawsuit because the government would have to prove that the nation’s “national security or some other compelling government interest is at stake.” The government would also need to prove that “the law was ‘narrowly tailored’ to address that particular issue” –a difficult burden to overcome in the courts considering there has been no evidence showing that TikTok has shared its data with the Chinese government and “Washington thus far has seemed unconcerned about abuse of users’ data by other social media platforms.” Check back with the blog as we continue to follow this developing story.
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Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/14/1238435508/tiktok-ban-bill-congress-china
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/technology/tiktok-ban-house-vote.html
Music: Disruptor’s Dance by Anka Mason
Blog Narration: Anka Mason
