MICHIGAN, USA — The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to advance legislation aimed at banning the social media platform TikTok in the U.S. unless it separates from its Chinese parent company.
The bill passed 352-65, with nearly every member of Michigan's congressional delegation voting in favor. The only representative from Michigan not having voted "yes" was Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlalib (D). Tlalib was marked in the chamber's voting record as "Not Voting."
The bill would make it illegal for U.S. app stores and purveyors and internet hosting services to offer what it calls "foreign adversary controlled applications."
While TikTok, owned by China-based company ByteDance, has previously denied having provided user data to the Chinese government, the platform is specifically named in the bill. Many lawmakers have argued its connection to ByteDance, and, in turn, its potential submission of user data to the Chinese government, poses national security risks.
This means that, under the bill, TikTok would have 180 days following the potential passage of the bill to separate from ByteDance to remain available in the U.S.
Both support and opposition to the bill was bipartisan.
According to the Associated Press, some members of Congress who opposed the bill have said they are not convinced it poses a security risk.
Members from Michigan who voted in support of the bill have begun to explain why they did so.
"We've gotten a ton of calls just like every congressional office that I know of from kids as young as nine, calling us and saying please don't ban TikTok," Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said in a press call on Wednesday. "No one wants to ban TikTok; we just don't want the Chinese Communist Party to have access to millions and millions of individual data sets from our citizens."
"This strong bipartisan legislation is an important step forward in making sure social media apps owned by foreign adversaries are prohibited from doing business in America," Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) said in a statement. "I am proud to support this bill to protect national security, and the Senate should pass it immediately."
"This legislation is a responsible and targeted effort to protect the data privacy of Americans and our children from foreign adversaries such as the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, Iran, and North Korea," Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) said in a statement.
The bill now moves to the Senate. If passed through Congress, the AP has reported that President Biden has said he will sign it.
A summary of the bill can be found here.
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