A bill that could potentially ban TikTok, a popular social media app, from the United States was passed by the House of Representatives on Mar. 13. The bill would give TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, 6 months to sell the app. If Bytedance isn’t able to sell it before that time, TikTok will be banned from app stores in the U.S.
The bill was created due to concerns over national security. The reason they are trying to get Bytedance to give up ownership of TikTok is because the company is based in China. Lawmakers are concerned that the Chinese government could force Bytedance to give them the personal data collected from TikTok users. This personal data can include a person’s username, phone number, and data on their location.
TikTok is not the only social media company that collects data from its users, but the bill does not address any of the other social media companies or ad networks that do the same. According to an article from NBCNews, “it’s the norm for phone apps to track [user data]— and that kind of information is bought and sold on a daily basis in markets that China has access to.”
Targeting TikTok and Bytedance specifically does not address the concerns over the personal data of US citizens. It only addresses concerns over the user data that TikTok is in possession of. There is also the fact that “there is no evidence that TikTok has shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government or that the Chinese government has asked the app to do so” according to an article from ABC News.
Because of the fact that there isn’t any evidence that TikTok has shared its user data, some people believe that the government should be focusing on more important subjects.
According to Kaelin Wheatley (2025) who is a TikTok user, “[The government] could put [their] time into something better and that is actually going to have an impact,” Wheatley said.
In response to the bill, TikTok sent a notification to some of its users to urge them to call their representatives and tell them to vote no on the bill. The notification also stated that the bill “will damage millions of businesses, destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country, and deny artists an audience.”
This notification concerned many TikTok users about the ban. Many users who saw this notification went through with pressing the call button pictured on the notification and calling their representatives, causing them to be flooded with calls. Some phones had to be shut off due to the amount of calls that they were receiving.
Currently, TikTok is not in immediate danger of being banned. The bill still has to make it through the Senate, “where several bills aimed at banning TikTok have stalled” according to an article from AP News. This bill regarding TikTok will also most likely be slowed down once it gets to the Senate. Even if the bill were to be passed, TikTok would still have about 6 months before it could be banned.
