The end of TikTok may just be upon us. On Wednesday, March 13, the United States House of Representatives approved a bill mandating that the owner of TikTok sell the app — or risk a ban from US app stores. Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL.) introduced and sponsored the bill, claiming the app holds connections to the Chinese Communist Party. For context, TikTok is owned by Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance, making it one of the first non-American social media apps to reach the US mainstream. The representatives fear ByteDance may be sharing data with the Chinese government, thus posing a threat to US national security. As of now, evidence points to these concerns only as hypothetical suspicions. Nevertheless, the bill received bipartisan support, passing on a 352-65 margin, with an endorsement from both Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. With an overwhelming majority approval, TikTok’s fate has now moved to the hands of the Senate.
TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps worldwide, with approximately 56% of all U.S. adults ages 18 to 34 using the platform. If the legislation is to take effect, a disproportionate number of young adults are vulnerable to losing access to the app, given the demographic’s over-representation of creators and users.
The bill passed just days before a two-week Senate break, explaining the current stall in determining the app’s fate. While the Senate’s voting date on the bill remains unknown, White House requests to “move quickly” on a bill decision suggests that a voting date is upon us. As of now, the Senate’s decision remains uncertain. While some Senators like Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) oppose the bill, in hopes to address TikTok’s concerns without “free-speech violations,” others like Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) and Vice Chair Marco Rubio (R-FL) support the bill over concerns of the “national security threat posed by TikTok.” Nevertheless, if the bill receives Senate approval, President Biden has committed to signing the legislation.
While some young adults fear the app’s potential ban, others are indifferent. Vanderbilt student Lauren Mok has said she has “already made the switch to Reels” – a Meta-created short-form video platform designed to rival TikTok. Lauren prefers Reels as it provides similar content while being “less addictive” than TikTok, which has become arguably one of the most addictive social media options available, according to an article published by the Brown Undergraduate School of Public Health. Additionally, the existence of emerging rivals has calmed Lauren’s fear of the ban, in knowing that a similar alternative exists.
More recently, TikTok has garnered growing attention from the Senate’s most prominent leaders. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsed the House-bill on April 8. McConnell believes TikTok legislation is “a matter that deserves’ Congress’ urgent attention,” describing the app as a weapon of “surveillance and propaganda.” While the issue may be a matter of urgency for McConnell, it is his colleague Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who has far more determinative power. While the New York Democrat Majority Leader has the ability to bring the bill up for a vote, he has yet to decide whether or not he will do so. However on Friday April 5th, he listed the bill as a top priority in a letter written to Democrats.
As a Senate vote looms ahead, the consensus remains unclear. The bill has maintained mixed reactions from Senate members in both parties, making it difficult to predict its outcome. Yet while the future of TikTok is unknown, the upcoming months have the opportunity to act as pivotal determinants of the app’s fate.
