A blow to TikTok... Either sold or banned

The US Senate has passed a bill that could ban TikTok. After Biden signs the bill, ByteDance will have 270 days to sell TikTok.

The banning of TikTok has been on the agenda in the US for some time. On March 13, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to ban TikTok in the country, and the bill was sent to the Senate for approval. Although TikTok reacted to this situation, saying that the right to freedom of expression of 170 million US citizens would be violated if the law was adopted, the Senate passed the bill with 79 votes in favor and 18 against.

Over the weekend, the House of Representatives passed a series of bills to provide foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip. The foreign aid included a bill to force TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell the social media platform to an American company or face a ban.

TikTok will have up to 12 months to be spun off from parent company ByteDance or banned from US app stores and web hosting services. The company called the bill unconstitutional and said it would challenge such legislation through legal action, which could further delay the eventual sale or ban.

Ahead of the votes in the House and Senate, members of Congress were briefed by intelligence officials on the alleged national security threat posed by the app. But some lawmakers expressed skepticism, saying the alleged threat posed by TikTok was largely hypothetical. Freedom of expression and digital rights groups also opposed the bill.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew also told Congress last year that a forced sale would not solve data concerns about the app. Despite these objections, the bill passed in the Senate.


Biden had been saying for months that he would pass the legislation when it reached his desk. In his last year in office, former President Donald Trump also tried to force ByteDance to sell to an American company through an executive order, but the court overturned the decision.