A forced sale or ban of Tiktok in the United States has come a lot closer following a vote on Saturday in the US House of Representatives. There they voted on support for Ukraine and Israel, and on a forced sale of Tiktok. These three bills will then go to the Senate together, which almost guarantees that they will be approved fairly quickly.
On Saturday, the House of Representatives approved a law requiring the Chinese company Bytedance to sell its successful app Tiktok. Otherwise the app will be banned in the US. A similar law was approved by an overwhelming majority in March, but the Senate made no move to discuss the text. That will almost certainly happen this time, because the issue in the Senate will be linked to support for Ukraine and Israel, which were also voted on by the House on Saturday.
The new law gives Bytedance more time to sell Tiktok: one year (or rather: nine months with a possible three-month extension) instead of six months. That would meet the objections of a number of senators. American politicians are concerned about the influence the Chinese Communist Party may have over American youth through the algorithm of the extremely popular app. Espionage is also a concern.
