House votes to ban Tiktok in U.S. if no China sale

WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation Saturday that would ban Tiktok in the United States if the popular social media platform’s China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake within a year, but don’t expect the app to go away anytime soon.

The decision by House Republicans to include Tiktok as part of a larger foreign aid package — a priority for President Joe Biden with broad congressional support for Ukraine and Israel — fast-tracked the ban after an earlier version had stalled in the Senate. A standalone bill with a shorter, six-month selling deadline passed the House in March by an overwhelming bipartisan vote as both Democrats and Republicans voiced national security concerns about the app’s owner, the Chinese technology firm Bytedance Ltd.

The modified measure, passed by a 360-58 vote, now goes to the Senate after negotiations that lengthened the timeline for the company to sell to nine months, with a possible additional three months if a sale is in progress.

Legal challenges could extend that timeline even further. The company has indicated that it would likely go to court to try to block the law if it passes, arguing it would deprive the app’s millions of users of their First Amendment rights.

Tiktok has lobbied hard against the legislation, pushing the app’s 170 million U.S. users — many of whom are young — to call Congress and voice opposition. But the ferocity of the pushback angered lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where there is broad concern about Chinese threats to the U.S. and where few members use the platform themselves.

“We will not stop fighting and advocating for you,” Tiktok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a video that was posted on the platform last month and directed toward the app’s users.