TikTok, one of the most used social networks in the world, may have its days numbered in the United States after the approval of the bill in the House of Representatives on the 13th that forces the company ByteDance to separate itself from its headquarters in China.
According to the authors of the proposal, which gained bipartisan support, “as long as TikTok is owned by ByteDance, controlled by the Communist Party of China, it poses a serious threat to US national security.” As a result, the platform, which has 170 million American users, will have 180 days to negotiate the sale of the application.
The opening of the case provoked a reaction from China, which condemned the political action, accusing Washington of applying a “logic typical of criminals” that prevents fair competition in the global market. However, in this fight between giants, Beijing was the one who took the first step.
For years, China has vetoed applications created by Americans, including most social media platforms such as X, Instagram and Facebook, on the grounds that they do not follow the Chinese regime's rules regarding the release of user data and the type of content available in the virtual environment. Google and YouTube are also part of this list.
Currently, parent company ByteDance is on track to become the largest social media group in the world, with $120 billion in global sales. In the USA alone, the group reached US$16 billion in sales, according to the newspaper Financial Times.
Hinrich Foundation researcher and professor at the National University of Singapore Business School, Alex Capri, told the broadcaster CNN that, if TikTok's ban comes to fruition, the same could happen to other Chinese-owned apps in the US.
Among the big businesses that have gained notable global fame are the retailer Shein, the video editing application Capcut, also belonging to ByteDance, and Huawei, which was almost banned from the country and is now on the agenda again amid the “war of chips“ with China. According to the American press, the government is targeting all companies that supply parts, machines and even essential materials for the production of semiconductor chips to Huawei.
The US Department of Commerce has already been activated by Joe Biden's government to monitor the interaction of companies in the production of the Chinese giant's equipment. According to the preliminary list published on the portal Digital Lookamong the companies that could be sanctioned are Qingdao Si'En, SwaySure and Shenzhen Pensun Technology Co.
Former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) tried to ban TikTok based on the same “threat to national security” during his term, although the measure ended up in court and was revoked by Biden without coming into force. During this period, ByteDance was negotiating with Microsoft to sell part of the company.
Now, the Republican, who is consolidating his representation in the new elections for the White House, opposes the ban on the network, while Biden's administration supported the legal initiative to ensure that data collected by the social network in the USA does not end up in the hands of China , something that ByteDance denied was happening.
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