TikTok's Fate Hangs in Balance as US House Passes Landmark Bill

Following a regulatory buildup that surrounded concerns about China's influence over TikTok, the short-form video platform may have finally met its Waterloo in the US.

Today in an overwhelming vote of 352-65, the US House of Representatives have passed a landmark bill that could see TikTok sold to a new parent US company or banned from its 170 million users in America.

Lawmakers have long been apprehensive about China's influence over TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance, including concerns about the accessibility of Americans' data to Chinese authorities and the national security threat it poses to the US. It has since faced bans in some US states.

Texas bans the use of TikTok on government-issued devices

U.S. Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott wants Chinese-owned, short-form video platform TikTok off all state-issued devices to “preserve the safety and cybersecurity of Texans.” Citing concerns over the app being partially owned by the Chinese Communist Party and because it offers a “trove of potentially sensitive information to the

TechloyEmmanuel Oyedeji

TikTok had tried to assuage regulators of stringent data safeguards for its US users US from parent company ByteDance in China. However, a damning Wall Street Journal investigation in January uncovered a "porous" system, unofficially ferrying data between TikTok in the US and ByteDance in China.

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TechloyEmmanuel Oyedeji

In a desperate bid to salvage its American foothold, the social platform had also mounted an aggressive lobbying campaign decrying the legislation as an infringement on free speech and economic harm to the thousands of small businesses thriving on its platform.

Despite that push, the bill sailed through the House and now heads to the Senate, before it makes its way to the White House to be signed by the president into law. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has said that if the bill reaches his desk, he will sign it into law spelling a very bleak ending for the well-loved video platform.

The implications are stark, meaning ByteDance would have only six months to sell its stake in TikTok to an American entity or face the risk of being banned in the US.

And while a complete ban would mean an axe to the head, a divestiture would also be fraught with challenges, including obtaining approval from Chinese authorities, which Beijing has vowed to oppose. 

Alternatively, even if ByteDance secures Beijing's reluctant nod to offload its stake in TikTok, it would also face challenges given the potential cost of the company. The company was valued at around $275bn per recent estimate in 2024, a price tag that could scare off investors.

As TikTok's fate in the US hangs precariously in the balance, a groundswell of dissent reverberates among its vast user base, with many users protesting against the bill citing the impending legislation as a death knell to their livelihood.