Possible TikTok ban bill sparks debate in the U.S.

TikTok is having a hard time in the United States. On Tuesday or Wednesday, the House of Representatives plans to vote a bill that could force ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the video-sharing platform or face a ban in the U.S.

Last Thursday, the bill, known as the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed its first round of voting in the House Energy and Commerce Committee 50-0.

"This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States," the company said after the vote. "The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression."

The bill pledges to "protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications." However, others look at it from new angles. 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the move represented an effort to score "cheap political points during an election year." The ACLU further note that many Americans relied on the app for information and communication.

Washington should admit it's as much about a lack of tech innovation as it is about national security, according to Karishma Vaswani, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.

"Homegrown tech has failed to keep up with the kind of innovation that Chinese firms have developed, and that's why this app has become so popular. Forcing it to sever its mainland links will not solve that, especially as Beijing is unlikely to agree," she wrote.

Before it becomes law, the bill needs to be voted through both the House and the Senate, and then be approved by the President.

President Joe Biden said last Friday that he would sign the legislation as his rival Donald Trump raised concerns about the ban of the service.

Earlier, TikTok responded by notifying all of its users with a notification urging them to call their congressional representatives to express their discontent with the legislation. Some TikTok users who are unhappy about the bill did make their calls to offices of their congressional representatives.

TikTok described the bill as "an outright ban ... no matter how much the authors try to disguise it" in a statement posted to social media platform X.

"This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs," said the company.

The bill's proponents deny the move amounts to an overt ban on TikTok, arguing that ByteDance is being given a window of about six months to comply.

The proposed legislation represents the latest attempt by American lawmakers to curb TikTok. In 2020, Trump sought to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat but was blocked by the courts.

The app is banned on U.S. government devices, although Biden's re-election campaign joined TikTok last month.

(With input from agencies)