An effort that could effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. received bipartisan support in the House this week, with 352 representatives approving a bill that would "incentivize divestment of TikTok" by threatening to exclude it from mobile app stores in the United States.
The bill, lawmakers say, would compel TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to divest from and sell TikTok. The app has sparked privacy concerns due to ByteDance's alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). ByteDance and other critics of the legislation argue that the bill would amount to a ban of the app and would raise concerns about freedom of speech.
However, one post on social media suggested that the reach of the bill would go far beyond banning TikTok alone.
The Claim
A Reddit post by user @toreachtheapex, posted on March 13, 2024, and upvoted 1,400 times, included a tweet from @ZssBecker on X, formerly Twitter, which said "The 'tik tok' bill that just passed gives the government control to ban/force the sale of ANY website or app.
"Not just tik tok.
"This will clearly be pointed immediately at X after next election. This country is beyond lost."
User @toreachtheapex wrote: "wtf just happened."
The Facts
This claim is false.
The bill, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, specifically addresses concerns regarding control of U.S. data by a "foreign adversary." The term foreign adversary is defined in the bill as countries specified under § 4872(d)(2) of Title 10 of the United States Code.
This definition refers to the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea.
While the bill mentions TikTok owner ByteDance, it says its broader aim is to "protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications."
The types of services that would be prohibited would include those where a user can "create an account or profile to generate, share, and view text, images, videos, real-time communications, or similar content"; "enables 1 or more users to generate or distribute content that can be viewed by other users of the website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application;" and "enables 1 or more users to view content generated by other users of the website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application."
It does not include provisions to alter the definition of a "foreign adversary" and, crucially, it does not affect websites or apps that are not controlled by foreign adversaries. This would mean that X, which is incorporated in Nevada, would not be affected.
If the bill passes in the Senate and is signed into law by President Joe Biden, ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, will have six months to sell its company to a buyer approved by the U.S. government.
If ByteDance does not sell TikTok in that time, it will be illegal for app stores and web hosting companies to distribute or update the app in the U.S.
The Ruling
False.
The TikTok bill would not give the government power to ban any website or app. It would prohibit companies owned by "foreign adversaries", defined by the bill, under a separate section of the U.S. Code, as China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea, from accessing U.S. consumers' data.
There are no provisions in the bill that would allow the government to define a foreign adversary, nor would its provisions affect companies in other countries.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
