US President signs legislation which could lead to a TikTok ban.
On Wednesday (4/24), President Biden signed sweeping foreign assistance legislation into law which included a potential ban on the popular mobile app TikTok.
The foreign aid act signed by the President included much delayed assistance military assistance to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, but it also includes provisions which have a potentially devastating impact on TikTok. Attached to the aid package are slightly modified provisions of legislation passed earlier this year by the House of Representatives mandating that Bytedance - the Chinese company which owns TikTok - divest itself of the popular social media platform or be banned from app stores and Internet hosting services in the United States. The President's signature on the legislation marks the start of a 270-day window during which ByteDance must divest itself for TikTok.
TikTok and its parent company continue to reject the assertions which lead to the Congressional action that, under Chinese law which ByteDance is bound to obey, TikTok could be compelled to provide the Chinese government with any and all user data it holds. This makes it an inherent threat to the confidentiality of all user data, critics argue. TikTok has argued that the legislative mandate is unconstitutional and promised to fight the law in court.