Influencers lobby against ban on Tiktok

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers, meet your latest lobbyists: online influencers from Tiktok.

The platform is once again bringing influencers to Washington, this time to lobby members of Congress to reject a fast-moving bill that would force Tiktok’s Beijing-based parent company to sell or be banned in the United States. On Tuesday, some influencers began a two-day advocacy event in support of Tiktok, which arranged their trip ahead of a House floor vote on the legislation on Wednesday.

But unlike a similar lobbying event the company put together last March when talks of a Tiktok ban reached a fever pitch, this year’s effort appeared more rushed as the company scrambles to counter the legislation, which advanced rapidly on Capitol Hill.

“If they ban it, I don’t know what it will do” to the business, Summer Lucille, a Tiktok content creator with 1.4 million followers who is visiting Washington this week, said in an interview arranged by the platform. “It will be devastating.”

In an unusual showing of bipartisanship, a House panel unanimously approved the measure last week. President Joe Biden has said he will sign the legislation if lawmakers pass it. But it’s unclear what will happen in the Senate, where several bills aimed at banning Tiktok have stalled.

The legislation faces other roadblocks.

Former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump, who holds sway over both House and Senate Republicans, has voiced opposition to the bill, saying it would empower Meta-owned Facebook, which he continues to lambaste over his 2020 election loss.

The bill also faces pushback from some progressive lawmakers in the House as well as civil liberties groups who argue it infringes on the First Amendment.

Tiktok could be banned if Bytedance, the parent company, doesn’t sell its stakes in the platform and other applications it owns within six months of the bill’s enactment.

The fight over the platform takes place as U.s.-china relations have shifted to that of strategic rivalry, especially in areas such as advanced technologies and data security, seen as essential to each country’s economic prowess and national security.

The shift, which started during the Trump years and has continued under Biden, has placed restrictions on export of advanced technologies and outflow of U.S. monies to China.