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Igor Patrick

US President Joe Biden announced today he would sign legislation forcing Chinese tech giant ByteDance to divest from its popular social media platform, TikTok.
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland’s Prince George’s County, Biden affirmed his commitment to the measure, stating: “If they [Congress] pass this, I’ll sign it.”
The legislation, known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, has garnered bipartisan support in the House of Representatives.
It sailed through the House Committee on Energy and Commerce by a unanimous 50-0 vote on Thursday.


The bill is sponsored by Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher and Illinois Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the House select committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
The legislation aims to curb the influence of foreign-controlled apps within the US.
Specifically, it would give ByteDance 165 days to divest from TikTok. If it failed to do so, app stores operated by Apple, Alphabet’s Google and others could not legally offer TikTok or provide web-hosting services to ByteDance-controlled applications.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has thrown his weight behind the legislation, which is expected to come to a vote as early as next week.
State media blasts ‘anti-China show’ as US lawmakers seek to force sale of TikTok
On Friday, the select committee’s leadership voiced gratitude for the support of its counterparts on the energy and commerce panel, saying “TikTok poses a serious threat to US national security” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Since taking office, the Biden administration has maintained an ambiguous stance towards TikTok.
While federal government-owned phones and devices have been barred from using the app, the administration has stopped short of enforcing the ban imposed by former president Donald Trump in 2020.
Trump’s ban, which also targeted Chinese-owned WeChat, was subsequently overturned by several courts.
In his ruling at the time, US District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, said the administration’s officials had failed “to adequately consider an obvious and reasonable alternative” before banning TikTok.

Biden’s re-election campaign even joined the social network in February, drawing criticism from Republicans and Democrats.
Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed concern about TikTok’s implications for US national security.
“I think that we still need to find a way to follow India, which has banned TikTok. I’m a little worried about a mixed message,” said Warner, referring to New Delhi’s decision in 2020.
But Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, sounded a note of caution following Biden’s comments on Friday, despite his past efforts against the popular app.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” the former president said on Friday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, alluding to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
China to block new US moves forcing ByteDance to divest TikTok, analysts say
“I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last election, doing better,” Trump added, referring to the 2020 US presidential race. “They are a true enemy of the people.”
Meanwhile, following the House panel’s vote on Thursday, Congress members “were inundated with calls from angry constituents after TikTok told its users that the popular social media app was at risk of being shut down in the US”, according to Axios.
TikTok has yet to respond to Biden’s latest comments.
Analysts have said it is unlikely China will approve any moves by ByteDance to divest from the platform.
In 2020 the country’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology introduced regulations that could prevent TikTok’s algorithm from being exported.


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US-China relations

Joe Biden vows to sign TikTok bill forcing China’s ByteDance to divest as Donald Trump voices concern

US President Joe Biden, who seeks re-election in November, speaks at a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Friday. Photo: AFP

TikTok, which says it has not and would not share American user data with the Chinese government, argues the US House bill amounts to a ban. Photo: dpa

‘America is rising’: Biden uses State of the Union address to push competition with China but not conflict

US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber at the US Capitol on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

Biden touts his record as US president during the State of the Union address on Thursday. Photo: AP Photo

US Vice-President Kamala Harris, left, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana., look on as Biden departs Congress after delivering the State of the Union address. Photo: AP

Biden greeting Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting in Woodside, California, on November 15, 2023. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS

Time to ‘cut off’ US outbound investment in China biotech firms like BGI Group and Wuxi AppTec: House panel

Covid-19 testing in an inflatable lab provided by Chinese biotech firm, BGI Genomics, a subsidiary of BGI Group, in Beijing in 2020. US lawmakers have raised alarm over such companies’ reach in the American market. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Chinese biotech firm Wuxi AppTec has denied having a human-genomics business or collecting human-genomic data. Photo: Reuters

TikTok told to break with China’s Communist Party or lose access to US users

Republican congressman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, chairman of the House select committee on competition with China and a co-sponsor of the new legislation, has been a vocal critic of TikTok in the US. Photo: Bloomberg

Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois and co-sponsor of the legislation, says it is needed to “defend Americans’ security and privacy against our adversaries”. Photo: Reuters

US issues executive order to keep Americans’ sensitive personal data safe from ‘countries of concern’

The White House is particularly concerned about data from journalists, academics, activists and members of marginalised communities, as well as patient data obtained through healthcare providers and researchers. Photo: Shutterstock

Americans divided on TikTok ban even as Biden campaign joins app, poll shows

US President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign launched a TikTok account in a bid to reach younger voters, a move that comes as the popular short-form video platform confronts concerns over its ties to China. Photo: Bloomberg

President Joe Biden’s campaign is embracing TikTok to court younger voters ahead of the US presidential elections, but American adults seem to be split about whether the video-sharing app should even operate in the country. Photo:AP

US President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign launched a TikTok account in a bid to reach younger voters, a move that comes as the popular short-form video platform confronts concerns over its ties to China. Photo: Bloomberg

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US president says he would sign the legislation if Congress passes it, with a vote in the House of Representatives possible as early as next week
Meanwhile, presumptive 2024 Republican nominee Donald Trump warns such a move would let Facebook ‘double their business’


US president says he would sign the legislation if Congress passes it, with a vote in the House of Representatives possible as early as next week.
