The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on March 13 to demand ByteDance, the Beijing-based technology company that owns TikTok, sell the popular social media platform amid national security concerns. The vote reflects ongoing tensions between the U.S. and China over control of significant technology.
Despite TikTok’s assertion that the worries are unfounded, citing American representation on its board and data protection efforts, the bill garnered bipartisan support and passed 352-65 in the House.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a five-hour hearing with Singaporean TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on March 23. During the hearing, lawmakers asked Chew about the app’s data privacy policies and misinformation. Chew was also questioned about his ties to the Chinese government, which he refuted by mentioning his Singaporean nationality.
During Chew’s questioning, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, who is a member of the House committee on Energy and Commerce, said she believes the bill is vital to protecting Americans on social media, especially in terms of data privacy.
“As screen time increases, so do inherent risks, and with the proliferation and popularity of new social media platforms, so does the potential reach of dangerous, provocative and often harmful content,” Dingell said. “I think of many ways these myriad of issues highlight the need for comprehensive data privacy legislation that would ensure the safety and integrity of every American’s data on every social media platform and mitigate potential harms.”
The legislation adds that ByteDance, and other businesses controlled by a foreign adversary, must divest from U.S. assets or sell the app within six months to a U.S.-approved buyer, ensuring that the company relinquishes all control over the app and its algorithms. Failure to sell would make it illegal for app stores and web hosts to distribute or update TikTok in the U.S., with potential penalties for noncompliance. Finding a suitable buyer may be difficult, however, given the antitrust scrutiny on potential purchasers like Microsoft, Google and Meta and the possibility of China blocking the sale.
The bill is now in the Senate, where several anti-TikTok efforts have stalled. President Joe Biden indicated that he would sign the bill if it is passed by Congress. The Biden-Harris campaign has not said why it supports the bill despite its active presence on the app.
In an interview with ABC News, Vice President Kamala Harris said that their primary focus is to mitigate security concerns posed by the app’s owner rather than resort to prohibition measures.
“That is not at all the goal or the purpose of this conversation,” Harris said. “We need to deal with the owner and we have national security concerns about the owner of TikTok, but we have no intention to ban TikTok.”
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Tifani Sadek, University of Michigan assistant professor who specializes in technology and privacy law, said that TikTok is not extremely different from other social media platforms, except for ByteDance’s partial ownership in China.
“As far as the technology goes, there’s nothing unique about TikTok,” Sadek said. “You’re basically turning everything over the same way with Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat. The only unique thing is that its parent company is owned partially by the country of China, which we are not getting along with right now.”
Sadek said that Congress’ approach to potentially banning TikTok is strategic because it does not overtly violate the First Amendment.
“They’re not telling people that they cannot use TikTok,” Sadek said. “What they’re doing is telling Google and Apple, two companies, that they are not allowed to provide TikTok to people on their platforms. It’s not them telling us you’re not allowed to use it because that’s very obviously a First Amendment concern.”
In an interview with The Daily, Kinesiology junior Riley Ammenhauser, who has nearly 200,000 TikTok followers, said she depends on monetized videos and brand partnerships to financially support herself during college.
“I’m 21 years old and basically financially independent,” Ammenhauser said. “TikTok is what pays my rent, what pays my health insurance. I’ve started posting Reels on my Instagram to create a back-up, that kind of safety just in case of the ban.”
The U.S. is not the first country to consider a ban on TikTok. In 2020, India issued an abrupt ban on TikTok, with more than 200 million users suddenly being cut off from the platform and switching to alternative platforms such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Despite the ban, Indian technology policy experts found that cybersecurity threats and misinformation persist, suggesting that removing TikTok may not significantly alter privacy risk.
Sadek also voiced concerns over the absence of comprehensive privacy legislation and regulation for artificial intelligence in the U.S., pointing to Europe’s legal framework, which addresses critical privacy and artificial intelligence-related issues.
“As a privacy lawyer, the main thing that concerns me is that we don’t have a privacy law in the United States,” Sadek said. “We don’t have an AI act. Europe has a very comprehensive privacy law … and I wish that this TikTok threat spurred our government to take care of those issues.”
All U.S. representatives from Michigan voted in favor of the ban, except U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib D-Livonia, who did not vote.
In an interview with The Daily, Business sophomore Cami Escobar said that she thinks the government should focus on different issues affecting the U.S. instead of banning TikTok.
“I think it’s ironic that this is what’s connecting a grand majority of our country, that Gen Z and Millenials are against it and older representatives of our country are for it,” Escobar said. “I find it interesting that all of our leaders can agree on something as insignificant as banning an app but can’t find the time to agree on larger political issues that affect more people and the health of Americans.”
Daily Staff Reporters Andrew Baum and Shane Baum can be reached at asbaum@umich.edu and smbaum@umich.edu.