WASHINGTON, DC (AP) – The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that’s expected to face legal challenges and disrupt the lives of content creators who rely on the short-form video app for income.
The TikTok legislation was included as part of a larger $95 billion package that provides foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel and was passed 79-18. It now goes to President Joe Biden, who said in a statement immediately after passage that he will sign it Wednesday.
A decision made by House Republicans last week to attach the TikTok bill to the high-priority package helped expedite its passage in Congress and came after negotiations with the Senate, where an earlier version of the bill had stalled. That version had given TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, six months to divest its stakes in the platform. But it drew skepticism from some key lawmakers concerned it was too short of a window for a complex deal that could be worth tens of billions of dollars.
Democrat Senator Joe Manchin released the following statement:
“American leadership means standing with our allies and standing up against authoritarianism. I am proud to vote for this national security package that advances America’s interests both on the world stage and right here at home. This bill will ensure Ukraine has the weapons and ammunition necessary to prevent a larger war in Europe, and it allows the U.S. and our allies to seize and use frozen Russian Central Bank assets as a way to punish Putin. It also sends a message to Hamas, Iran, and its proxies that we will continue to support Israel until they are victorious. It will deter China from further aggression in the Indo-Pacific region and protect Americans’ data from its Chinese-owned company, ByteDance, by requiring it to be sold to an American company.
“By investing in our allies, we are also investing in our own economic interests by creating new jobs to produce weapons here in the United States and reinvigorating our defense industrial base. Today, we are demonstrating our commitment to peace through strength and I look forward to seeing the President quickly sign this package into law.”
Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito released the following statement:
“Our nation is facing the most dangerous global threat level we have seen in decades. Our allies are under attack, our national security industrial base has been weakened, TikTok poses a major national security threat, and adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran are working together in unprecedented ways against the U.S. and our allies like Israel. Tonight, we are taking a stand against all of these dangers, in the vacuum of leadership from a president who has refused to establish strong deterrence.
“Tonight, we stand for our freedom and with our allies. The national security supplemental we passed expands the capacity of our industrial base and restocks American munition stockpiles with newer and more advanced weapons, many of which have critical components manufactured in West Virginia. It also includes provisions to protect the American people from the Chinese Communist Party’s influence over TikTok. I was proud to vote in support of this legislation, which equips our country with the resources to restore American deterrence and resolve as the beacon of freedom we must continue to be for the world.”