Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump asserted on Monday that President Joe Biden was advocating for a ban on TikTok and would bear the responsibility if such action were taken, urging voters to take note of the situation.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation with a significant majority vote of 360-58 on Saturday. The legislation would provide TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance approximately nine months to divest its U.S. operations or face a ban.
The bill now advances to the Senate, with Biden indicating his intention to sign it into law if it passes there.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump attributed the responsibility for a potential TikTok ban to Biden, alleging that the President was actively advocating for its closure to benefit Facebook. He urged younger voters, a substantial portion of TikTok’s user base, to consider Biden’s stance on Election Day.
It’s noteworthy that during his presidency in 2020, Trump himself sought to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat over national security concerns but faced legal challenges that prevented the bans from being implemented.
TikTok, emphasizing its commitment to not sharing U.S. user data with the Chinese government, has argued that a ban would infringe upon free speech rights protected by the First Amendment for its 170 million users in the United States. The company has communicated its intention to legally challenge the legislation once Biden signs it into law.
A White House spokesperson clarified the administration’s position on Monday, stating that the aim is not to ban apps like TikTok but to ensure that the platform becomes owned by an American company, thereby safeguarding sensitive personal data and protecting against potential manipulation of American perspectives.
Under the proposed legislation, major app stores, including those operated by Apple and Google, would be prohibited from offering TikTok or providing web hosting services to ByteDance-controlled applications after the divestment deadline.
