China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday criticized the United States as lawmakers approved the ban on the famous video and entertainment app TikTok. This ban comes as concerns of a national threat arise due to the ownership structure of TikTok, mainly because it has ties with China.
The US Congress and Biden-led government were looking for numerous options to ban the surprisingly popular app, which has more than 170 million users in America. The bill makes it mandatory for the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok and many of its other applications within six months of the implementation of the bill. Failing to do that would result in a nationwide ban on those applications.
The US House of Representatives voted in favor of the ban with a margin of 352 to 65 on March 13. However, the bill is still due to be passed in the US Senate. After that, it will be passed with President Biden’s approval. Notably, Joe Biden had earlier said that if Congress passes this app-restricting bill, he would definitely sign it.
The future of the bill is still not decided in the Senate, as some people are uncertain about the ban despite the overwhelming response from the US House of Representatives.
Critics say that this approval poses serious constitutional concerns, as it is a clear threat to free speech and expression and global data transfer. The most crucial aspect to look into is the future of US-China relations.
TikTok is one of the most famous and used apps globally, but it has Chinese ownership and an inclination toward the Communist Party in Beijing.
As per an earlier report from Reuters, Avril Haines, America’s director of national intelligence, warned that China could leverage TikTok to impact the November elections.
Haines said,
We cannot rule out the possibility that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) would use it,
