LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to pass a bill that would ban the popular video-sharing app TikTok nationwide.
The vote was overwhelmingly bipartisan, with 352 MPs voting in favor, but this does not mean the app will be phased out immediately.
In X, TikTok's policy issued a statement regarding the House vote, calling on senators to consider the facts before voting.
The bill now heads to the Senate for a vote and could then end up on the president's desk.
Another option for staying with TikTok would be for China-based parent company ByteDance to sell its stake within the next six months or remove the app from U.S. app stores.
TikTok has more than 150 million U.S. users, and lawmakers have expressed concern that the Chinese government could access the data of millions of U.S. users.
Christopher Wright, co-founder of Sullivan Wright Technologies, works as a cybersecurity expert. He said that even if an app is banned, it won't immediately cease to exist.
“We're saying we're banning it, but what it's actually doing is removing it from the app store. You probably won't be able to download it or update it,” Wright said.
Wright said that while TikTok collects much of the same data as other U.S.-based apps, such as location, contact and financial contact information, there are differences.
“A lot of it is shared with ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, but we don't really know what's going on behind the scenes. It's kind of a veiling curtain,” Wright said. .
Wright said a lot can be done if the data is shared in the wrong hands.
“The algorithms used in these tools are built to present you with content you already believe, to reinforce your deeply held beliefs, or to sell you something. ,” Wright said. “I think that leads to another side of the TikTok story: Could it be used for disinformation to push a false narrative at a critical time?”
While the TikTok debate continues, the Senate still needs to vote on the bill. President Joe Biden said he would sign the bill into law once it reaches his desk.
