Home » Business News • US business news » TikTok Says US Ban Would ‘Trample Free Speech’
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TikTok has hit back at a potential ban in the U.S it says would "trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans."
The senate is set to vote on a bill banning the app this week.
This follows a vote from the US House of Representatives that agreed to ban TikTok unless its Chinese owners, ByteDance, sever ties with China.
The decision was part of a larger US foreign policy package.
This includes including significant aid for Ukraine, and may become law as early as next week.
The app's popularity, particularly among young Americans, has raised concerns among US officials who fear ByteDance's compliance with Beijing.
However, the company has consistently refuted these allegations.
The legislative package, which passed 360 to 58, proposes the TikTok divest-or-ban condition and plans to allocate $61 billion in aid to Ukraine and additional funds to Israel and Taiwan.
If enacted, ByteDance would have a nine-month window to divest its stakes in TikTok, with a possible three-month extension if a sale is underway, to avoid a ban in the US.
A TikTok spokesman said the bill "would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24bn (£19.4bn) to the US economy annually".
TikTok and ByteDance have maintained ByteDance operates independently of any national government.
ByteDance, highlighting its global investor base, says international investment firms hold 60 percent of its ownership.
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The company, founded in 2012 in China and launched TikTok as an international counterpart in 2013, operates under a limited liability structure from Los Angeles and Singapore, despite its Chinese origins.
Concerns persist in the US regarding the influence of the Chinese Communist Party over private companies like ByteDance, especially regarding data security.
Since 2022, TikTok has managed all US user data through servers provided by Oracle in Texas to mitigate these security concerns.
The Senate is expected to vote on this bill next week, with President Joe Biden indicating his willingness to sign it into law if passed.
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