TikTok ban in the US now really close: Senate approves law

The US Senate has approved a bill that will ban TikTok in its current form. The Chinese parent company ByteDance will still have the opportunity to sell its American branch, although they will probably try to challenge the new law first.

In the news: After the House of Representatives convincingly approved the new anti-TikTok law earlier this week, the Senate now did the same. 79 senators voted in favor, 18 against.

• It is quite striking that the Senate voted so convincingly in favor of the law. An earlier version, a month ago, did not pass the Senate. This time, however, the law was packaged in a bill that also provides support for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, something that many are in favor of.

Sale or lawsuit

What should happen next?

• The law now goes to President Joe Biden, who has already indicated he will sign it. At that time, a deadline of 270 days starts, which can last up to one year. At that time, ByteDance must sell the American branch of TikTok. If this does not happen, the TikTok application will no longer be available in American app stores, Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
• However, TikTok does not want to give in to this so quickly and will take the American government to court. This is evident from a memo from TikTok CEO Michael Beckerman that appeared in the news site The Information. TikTok calls the ban unconstitutional because it would violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution on freedom of speech.
• Experts think TikTok has a chance in court. More than likely, both parties face a multi-year lawsuit. The law will then be paused for the time being during that lawsuit.
• In any case, the chance that the American branch of TikTok will be sold is very small. The Chinese government is firmly against this. Such a sale would require it to release its algorithm and it is precisely that algorithm that forms the basis of TikTok’s enormous success.