TikTok: The USA gives an ultimatum to the Chinese owner of TikTok

In the United States, the House of Representatives voted again in favor of a law banning the popular Chinese short video application Tik Tok To be placed under American control. The House of Representatives approved the bill with a large majority of parties. Accordingly, Chinese parent company ByteDance must sell TikTok within nine months, otherwise the app will be banned from US app stores. US President Joe Biden can extend the deadline for another three months. The Senate still must approve.

TikTok is the only globally successful online platform that does not come from the USA. Republican and Democratic lawmakers agree that Chinese company ByteDance should submit to the will of the Chinese Communist Party. They warn that Chinese authorities could gain widespread access to data from American users as well as use the platform for political influence. TikTok has denied the allegations for years.

A TikTok spokeswoman criticized the latest decision, calling it trampling on “the right to free expression of 170 million Americans.” At the same time, she warned that the ban would lead to the bankruptcy of millions of companies and the closure of a platform that “contributes $24 billion annually to the American economy.” TikTok head Shou Chew said the company will do everything it can and use legal means to defend the platform.

The US House of Representatives had already approved a similar draft last March, which stipulates a slightly shorter deadline for the sale. This is currently stuck in the Senate.

Senate approval is considered certain this time

The new TikTok draft is part of a multi-part package in the US House of Representatives that brings together several Republican priorities and also aims to make new aid possible for Ukraine, which is under attack from Russia. Therefore, it is certain that the draft will now be approved in the Senate, where the Democrats, led by US President Joe Biden, have a majority. Biden had made clear in the past that he would sign a corresponding TikTok law.

The draft approved by the House of Representatives includes other points, including sanctions on Iran. It also provides for the seizure of Russian assets. The text requests US President Biden to establish a support fund for Ukraine. Biden must therefore work with partners to develop a mechanism that makes it possible to use frozen Russian assets. In total it is several hundred billion US dollars. The United States in particular has recently put repeated pressure on Russia to benefit more from Russian assets. The European Group of Seven countries, including Germany, view this matter critically. The United States controls only a small portion of the frozen assets. Majority in the European Union.