TikTok’s fate is in the hands of the U.S. House of Representatives as they plan to vote on a bill in just a few hours (Mar. 13) that could see the app banned in the U.S. within six months.
When will the TikTok vote take place?
At 10 am ET, in Washington, the vote will commence and will be under fast-track rules that require support from two-thirds of House members for the measure to pass.
With more than 170 million users in the country, lawmakers are concerned the app may endanger sensitive user data. Over the last few years, the possibility of TikTok being banned has almost been made into a reality many times.
This is to take place just a week after the bill was proposed. The House Energy and Commerce Committee last week voted 50-0 in favor of the bill which set it up for a vote before the full House.
Earlier this week, following a classified briefing held by the FBI, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said: “We’ve answered a lot of questions from members. We had a classified briefing today. So that members can see even more details about what’s at risk and how the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) can jeopardize the risk to American families,”
TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to be present at Capitol Hill today as he had already planned a scheduled trip to talk to senators.
Which countries have banned TikTok?
The U.S. is not the only market to consider a ban on the dancing app, with India issuing a complete ban in 2020.
This was due to ‘geopolitical tensions’ and their government claimed these apps (59 Chinese phone apps were banned in total) were using data illegally and secretly collecting information from people’s phones when they downloaded the apps.
As such, they considered TikTok and others to be a threat to India’s national security, and the app was officially banned.
Other countries to have full bans of the app include Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, and Somalia. Some places have partial bans, like Australia and Belgium which don’t allow for the Chinese-owned app to be downloaded on some government devices.
