House Passes Bill That Would Ban TikTok Unless it Sells in 165 Days

The House of Representatives passed a bill that would force TikTok's Chinese owner to sell the video app in 165 days or face a total ban in the United States. The bill, which was fast-tracked to a vote after being unanimously approved by a committee last week, gives China-based owner ByteDance 165 days to divest from TikTok. If ByteDance does not sell, app stores including the Apple App Store and Google Play would be legally barred from hosting TikTok or providing web hosting services to other apps controlled by the Chinese parent company. The landslide vote in the House may be the most serious threat to TikTok yet in the continuing political concerns that American user data on the video app could fall into the hands of the Chinese government. The Bill contends that ByteDance is effectively under the control of the Chinese government in Beijing - a regime that could demand access to 170 million Americans who use TikTok. "We have given TikTok a clear choice: separate from your parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the CCP, and remain operational in the United States, or side with the CCP and face the consequences," Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who is among the lawmakers leading the bill, says. "This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States," TikTok says in a statement after the committee vote.