Foreign aid package that could ban TikTok on the verge of becoming law after standalone GOP bill

23 April 2024

The U.S. House of Representatives, on Saturday, April 20, passed a bill that would ban TikTok in the United States unless the platform's owner in Mainland China, ByteDance Ltd., sells its stake within a year.

Now, the proposed TikTok ban is going to the U.S. Senate for consideration. And it appears likely to become law.

According to Associated Press (AP) reporters Mary Clare Jalonick and Haleluya Hadero, "The decision by House Republicans to include TikTok as part of a larger foreign aid package, a priority for President Joe Biden with broad congressional support for Ukraine and Israel, fast-tracked the ban after an earlier version had stalled in the Senate. A standalone bill with a shorter, six-month selling deadline passed the House in March by an overwhelming bipartisan vote as both Democrats and Republicans voiced national security concerns about the app's owner, the Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd."

In the U.S. Senate, the proposed TikTok ban is part of a foreign-aid package that also includes humanitarian relief for Gaza as well as military support for Israel.

Conservative Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has indicated that he will support the package.

On April 21, Graham tweeted, "The idea that the United States will be safer if we pull the plug on our friends and allies overseas is wrong."

Jalonick, in an April 23 article, notes, "The foreign aid portion of the bill is similar to what the Senate passed in February, with some minor changes and additions, including the TikTok bill and a stipulation that $9 billion of the economic assistance to Ukraine is in the form of 'forgivable loans.'"

Jalonick and Hadero point out that TikTok lobbyists have been fighting against the proposed U.S. ban.

In a video released in March, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew declared, "We will not stop fighting and advocating for you. We will continue to do all we can, including exercising our legal rights, to protect this amazing platform that we have built with you."

Read the Associated Press' reporting at this link and here.

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