American deputies in the House of Representatives voted for a bill aimed at forcing TikTok to cut its ties with Beijing, failing which the platform will no longer be able to broadcast its content in the United States.
It’s still only a threat, but US lawmakers in the House of Representatives moved up a gear by overwhelmingly adopting a bill on Wednesday requiring Beijing-based ByteDance to sell its subsidiary. TikTok under penalty of a national ban.
The bill aims to remove apps from App Stores or web hosting services in the United States unless the app severs its ties with companies that are subject to the control of foreign adversaries, such as China .
No one knows at this stage whether this legislation will ever become effective. but it reflects Americans’ fears that the popular social media platform could expose Americans toMalevolent influences from Beijing and data security risks.
Having been singled out for several years, the Chinese firm, whose headquarters are located outside China, has strategically kept its distance from its country of origin where TikTok content is not available.
Since its inception, the TikTok platform has been aimed at non-Chinese markets and withdrew from Hong Kong in 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law on the territory to restrict free speech. As data security concerns began to increase in the United States, TikTok sought to reassure lawmakers on the fact that the data collected on American users remained in the United States and remained inaccessible to ByteDance employees in Beijing.
TikTok’s parent company follows the same model as many other Chinese companies with global ambitions : To win customers and gain trust in the United States and other Western countries, they downplay their Chinese roots and connections. Some insisted they be called “global companies” rather than “Chinese companies.”
But for TikTok, that may not be enough. So far, the bill has only passed the House of Representatives his prospects in the Senate are uncertain, but if it receives congressional approval, Joe Biden has said he will sign it.
Above all, the law highlights the dilemma that many Chinese private companies find themselves facing as they seek to engage in Western markets a time of deteriorating relations between the United States and China.
“This is the most challenging time for Chinese technology and private companies in decades, as tensions and rivalry between the United States and China continue to grow. said Zhiqun Zhu, professor of political science and international relations at Bucknell University.
With the rise of Chinese techno-nationalism, whereby technological capabilities are seen as a national strategic assetChinese tech companies are forced by Beijing’s laws and rules to disclose data and have become “essentially a de facto representative” of China’s ruling Communist Party,” says Alex Capri, a lecturer at the National University of China. Singapore.
All 170 million US users urged to contact their lawmakers to say no to banning TikTok
In 2018, Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance, toed the party line after Beijing shut down ByteDance’s prank app. He publicly apologized for his company’s lapses in relation to fundamental socialist values and promised to “completely rectify the algorithm” of its news app and add many more layers of censorship, a move seen as necessary for the survival of any business in China.
“Here is my message to TikTok: break with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users“, said Republican Mike Gallagher, sponsor of the bill. “America’s primary adversary does not have to control a dominant media platform in the United States. TikTok’s time in the United States is over unless it ends its relationship with CCP-controlled ByteDance.
Congress’ distrust of TikTok was evident during a Jan. 31 hearing when Sen. Tom Cotton repeatedly asked CEO Shou Zi Chew if he was a Chinese citizen beholden to the Communist Party. Shou Zi Chew, who is Singaporean, said no several times.
On Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi said it was problematic that ByteDance, which owns the social platform’s algorithm, was subject to Beijing’s control.
For TikTok, trust is so lacking that even a complete divestment from its Chinese parent company might not workbecause complex ownership structures can mask possible Chinese ownership, said researcher Alex Capri.
As TikTok fights for its survival, the company has engaged in intense lobbying and is calling on its 170 million US users to contact their lawmakers to tell them thata ban on TikTok would infringe on their right to free speech.
Message received loud and clear by Donald Trump, once very critical of TikTok, the former president spoke out against the legislation on TikTok but was unable to prevent the adoption of the text by the House.
If the bill becomes law, Capri said, TikTok could resort to America’s last resort: a lawsuit to challenge the ban.