U.S. House passes TikTok ban bill

TikTok
MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

TikTok
MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Multiple book publishers sued Google on Tuesday for allegedly stealing copyrighted…

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A record-smashing heat wave was spreading Tuesday from the Mountain West toward the…

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The UK government said Tuesday it will introduce an overnight social media curfew for…

US forces carried out a fourth straight day of strikes against Iran.

Tehran (AFP) — The United States launched a third night of strikes on Iran as President Donald Trump planned to…
The United States House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill on Wednesday that would force the popular video-sharing app TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company or be banned in the country.
The 352-65 bipartisan vote sends the bill to the Senate, where Republicans and Democrats are cautious for fear of earning the ire of TikTok’s passionate 170 million young users in the country in an election year when the youth vote will be key.
“Today’s bipartisan vote demonstrates Congress’ opposition to Communist China’s attempts to spy on and manipulate Americans, and signals our resolve to deter our enemies,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said after the vote.
“I urge the Senate to pass this bill and send it to the President so he can sign it into law.”
Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, who will need to back the bill, remained non-comital, saying only that the Senate “will review” the legislation when it comes over from the House.
“I think it will die in the Senate,” said Representative Nancy Mace, a Trump ally.
The measure, which only gained momentum in the past few days, requires TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the app within 180 days or see it barred from the Apple and Google app stores in the US.
It also gives the president power to designate other applications to be a national security threat if they are under the control of a country considered adversarial to the US.