US Senate sends measure with Joe Biden’s approval to compel TikTok to sell

The US Senate on Tuesday adopted a bill that would have prohibited the video-sharing software TikTok unless it separated from its Chinese parent firm, ByteDance.

Although it is anticipated that the measure will be contested in court, this action permits US President Joe Biden to sign it into law.

The idea was part of a bigger $95 billion foreign aid package for Israel and Ukraine, and it would have given ByteDance nine months to market the platform.

The House of Representatives cleared the package on Saturday by a bipartisan vote of 360-58, while the Senate voted 79-18 to support it.

The vote comes after Congress approved the reauthorization of a contentious program that permits the unwarranted monitoring of US individuals’ communications.

Furthermore, Republicans and Democrats alike have claimed that TikTok puts the country’s security at risk by giving Beijing the ability to “spy” on Americans and “manipulate” public discourse.

TikTok, however, disputes their assertions.

The measure to compel TikTok’s sales “would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans,” the company warned in a statement on Sunday.

In the event that the statute is challenged as unconstitutional, the corporation may request a preliminary injunction to stop its enforcement.

A similar prohibition was rejected by a US judge in Montana last year after it was determined that it “oversteps state power” and “likely violates the First Amendment”.

Civil liberties organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, have also opposed the ideas on the basis of free speech.

A comparable bill to compel TikTok to sell was approved by the House last month but was stalled in the Senate.