House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill to Force Chinese Company to Divest From TikTok or Face a Ban in the U.S.

TikTok via Twitter.

The House passed a bill on Wednesday to force ByteDance, a Chinese company, to sell its stake in the social media platform TikTok in six months or face a ban in the U.S.

The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and a final vote of 352 to 65. Republicans have long led the charge against TikTok, arguing that the social media platform is a national security risk and a Chinese data-gathering tool. Former President Donald Trump and some of his MAGA allies like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) took a last-minute turn to oppose the bill.

“This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States,” said TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew ahead of the vote. “The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression.”

The potential ban has led to many younger Americans flooding congressional offices with calls of concern as the app has been urging users to reach out to their representatives. “Thousands of TikTok users, young and old, bombarded the phones of House lawmakers last Thursday. The effort appears to have had minimal effect,” reported Politico last week, noting the campaign has had a “minimal impact.”

Trump reversed his position on TikTok last week after meeting with billionaire Jeff Yass, who has a major stake in the company. “There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok, but the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you’re going to make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media,” Trump told CNBC Monday after having led the effort to ban the app while president.

The House bill now faces an uncertain future in the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “has not indicated how he plans to proceed,” noted Reuters.

This is a developing story and has been updated.