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TikTok ban: all the news on attempts to ban the video platform

Discussions about banning TikTok, the short-form video app owned by Chinese company ByteDance, have seen politicians in the US and internationally accuse it of being a tool for propaganda and a security risk. Attempts to force a sale of TikTok began under the Trump administration and have continued in the US under the administration of President Biden but have so far been unsuccessful.

On March 13th, the House passed a bill that could ban TikTok, and President Biden has said he’ll sign it if it passes the Senate too.

In the meantime, a slew of TikTok bans across the US barred the app from devices tied to universities and government hardware at the state, local, and federal levels.

While some experts say there’s no evidence the app has done any more damage or risked user privacy beyond what we’ve seen from companies like Facebook or Google, politicians have continued to raise the prospect of attempting to ban TikTok entirely if they can’t force a separation from ByteDance.

Read on for all the latest news on a potential TikTok ban in the US.

  • Mia Sato

    Mar 27

    Mia Sato

    What about other Chinese-owned apps?

    It’s not just TikTok — other apps like Shein, Temu, and WeChat are popular in the US, too. The TikTok ban focuses on ByteDance-owned subsidiaries including CapCut and Lemon8, but includes a carve out for popular shopping apps, The Washington Post reports. On the other hand, “everything app” WeChat could be in a gray area.


  • Kamala Harris insists “we do not intend to ban TikTok.”

    In an interview with ABC News, the vice president said the goal of the bill recently passed by the House is to force TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell:

    We need to deal with the owner, and we have national security concerns about the owner of TikTok, but we have no intention to ban TikTok... It’s an income generator for many people, what it does in terms of allowing people to share information in a free way, in a way that allows people to have discourse, it’s very important.


  • Mia Sato

    Mar 22

    Mia Sato

    Senators push to declassify TikTok briefings

    Graphic photo illustration of the Tik Tok logo in front of Congress.
    Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Michael Duva, Getty Images

    Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn are calling for TikTok briefings to be declassified so the government can “better educate the public on the need for urgent action.” The briefings come as support grows for a forced sale of TikTok due to national security concerns around ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the app.

    “We are deeply troubled by the information and concerns raised by the intelligence community in recent classified briefings to Congress. TikTok is a weapon in the hands of the Chinese government, and poses an active risk to our democratic institutions and national security,” Blumenthal and Blackburn wrote.

    Read Article >
  • Senators will get a closed door security briefing on TikTok.

    The FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Justice Department will brief senators Wednesday on national security threats posed by TikTok, Reuters reports. Senate staffers will get a separate briefing Tuesday.

    It could be an important tipping point, as House members emerged from their briefings confident in their votes before overwhelmingly passing a bill that could lead to TikTok’s ouster from the US.


  • TikTok’s (formerly) favorite congressman is really, really sorry.

    “I did not handle this situation well from top to bottom, and that is why I have been completely roasted on this app,” said Rep. Jeff Jackson, who posted an explanation of his vote to ban TikTok on TikTok.

    He tried to clear up his vote by explaining he thinks a ban is unlikely, but some commenters are still livid.


  • How the House revived the TikTok ban before most of us noticed

    Photo illustration of the Capitol building next to the TikTok logo.
    Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

    The US push to force TikTok to divorce from its Chinese parent company or else be banned entirely had faded from public discussion for almost a full year. In the course of just over a week, it jumped suddenly from the pile of forgotten ideas to getting halfway through the process of becoming enshrined in law. 

    But the road to the blockbuster vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday was months in the making. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who chairs the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and is a lead author of the bill, said he’d worked for eight months with colleagues including Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) to prepare it.

    Read Article >
  • Zoomers are turning on the TikTok famous congressman who voted to ban the app

    Debt Ceiling Vote
    Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

    Until relatively recently, Rep. Jeff Jackson, a freshman Democratic congressman from North Carolina, had more than 2.5 million followers on TikTok. Jackson’s follower count dropped by over 100,000 virtually overnight — as did his esteem among some of TikTok’s young users — after he voted to ban the app.

    The bill passed with 352 votes, but to the legions of TikTokers who called their representatives to urge them not to ban the app, Jackson’s vote feels like a unique betrayal.

    Read Article >
  • Steven Mnuchin is working to create a buyer for TikTok.

    The former Treasury Secretary said on CNBC Thursday that he’s “going to put together a group to buy TikTok.” Such a group would need to have massive buying power, since the app boasts 170 million US users, and has an estimated value in the tens of billions of dollars.

    The House passed a bill Wednesday that could force TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to sell it, or be banned from the US.


  • TikTok CEO tells users to “make their voices heard” against a bill that could ban the app in the US.

    Now that the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act has passed in the House of Representatives, TikTok CEO Shou Chew made — what else — a short video appealing to the app’s users to speak up against a ban.

    He doesn’t address the possibility of a sale, saying the bill will take away their app if it becomes a law, but that “We believe we can overcome this together.”


  • If Congress wants to ban TikTok it should probably show us the evidence of Chinese interference.

    We’ve heard so much about the dangers of TikTok from both sides of the aisle, and even had Trump flip-flop his position ostensibly over the political calculations of banning an app 170 million Americans use. But what exactly did the House select committee see in its secure briefing that led them to vote 50-0 in favor of the bill that would ban the app? If this thing is going to move forward in the Senate it seems like we should at least know the basics.


  • Nancy Pelosi is playing TikTok-toe.

    The former House Speaker said passing a new bill that incentivizes China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok “is not an attempt to ban TikTok. It’s an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-tac-toe. A winner.”

    After the bill passed out of the House with 352 votes, it now must clear the Senate to reach the president’s desk.


  • TikTok’s fate now lies with the Senate

    Photo illustration of the Capitol building under the TikTok logo with a slash through it.
    Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

    The fate of TikTok in the US now lies with the Senate after House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill that would ban the app unless Chinese parent company ByteDance sells it.

    President Joe Biden has already said he would sign the bill, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, if both chambers advance it.

    Read Article >
  • I’ll have what she’s having!

    “This is not an attempt to ban TikTok. It’s an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-tac-toe. A winner. A winner.”

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  • House passes bill that could ban TikTok

    Photo illustration of the Capitol building next to the TikTok logo.
    Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

    Banning TikTok in the US is back on the table after the House voted Wednesday to pass a measure that would do just that unless the app separates from Chinese parent company ByteDance. The bill passed with 352 votes, needing a two-thirds majority to advance. Sixty-five members voted against it, with one voting present.

    The bill still needs to clear the Senate, which is no small task. But President Joe Biden said on Friday he would sign it into law if it passes.

    Read Article >
  • Donald Trump has even more to say about the TikTok ban.

    Appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Trump explained, again, why he no longer supports the push to ban TikTok. “...without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people along with a lot of the media.”

    And as for his own unsuccessful push to ban the ByteDance-owned app, he now claims “I had it banned just about, I could have gotten it done. But I said, ‘You know what, but I’ll leave it up to you.”


  • Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is apparently eyeing TikTok.

    The former executive expressed interest in buying the app to the founder of TikTok’s parent company, according to The Wall Street Journal. China-based ByteDance could be forced to sell TikTok or else lose access to the US market should Congress pass a new bipartisan bill.

    Kotick is looking for allies, tossing out the idea to a group including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, per the Journal.


  • President Biden says he’ll sign a TikTok ban, if passed.

    The President said so while addressing reporters in this video from The Associated Press.

    The push to ban TikTok was revived this week as House congressional lawmakers introduced a bill to make it illegal to distribute ByteDance apps. TikTok has been prompting users to protest the ban, which House Republicans will vote on despite Trump’s objections.


  • Republicans ignore Trump criticism, and plan to vote next week on a bill that could ban TikTok.

    The Republican-controlled House is planning a speedy vote on a new bill that could ban TikTok unless it separates from its Chinese parent company. House leaders plan to bring the bill to a vote on Wednesday in an accelerated process that requires a two-thirds vote to pass, according to Semafor.

    That says a lot about how much House Republicans care about this bill, considering that former President Donald Trump posted this on Truth Social after the committee vote to advance it:

    If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!


  • Turns out Congress might still want to ban TikTok.

    After months of little serious discussion about TikTok on Capitol Hill, the House Energy and Commerce committee just unanimously passed a bill that could effectively ban the app unless it separates from its Chinese parent company ByteDance.

    Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) pointed to TikTok’s plea to users to contact their representatives about voting against the bill as “a small taste” of how the Chinese Communist Party can weaponize apps. After the vote, TikTok wrote on X that the “government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression.”


  • The TikTokers are revolting.

    Apparently TikTok’s push notification warning is working, because congressional staffers say they’re flooded with calls protesting a new play to make Chinese owner ByteDance sell the app:

    “It’s so so bad. Our phones have not stopped ringing. They’re teenagers and old people saying they spend their whole day on the app and we can’t take it away,” one House GOP staffer told POLITICO, granted anonymity to speak candidly.


  • TikTok is urging users to call Congress about a looming ban

    A TikTok logo surrounded by jazzy lines and colorful accents
    Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

    As support grows for a bill in Congress that would effectively ban TikTok in the US, the video platform is trying to rally support among a key group: its own users.

    TikTok sent users in the US a push notification on Wednesday, warning that “Congress is planning a total ban of TikTok” that would “[strip] 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression.” The page says that a ban would “damage millions of businesses, destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country, and deny artists an audience.” The alert includes a way for users to find their representative and call their office.

    Read Article >
  • Lawmakers introduce bill that would punish app stores for hosting TikTok

    A TikTok logo surrounded by jazzy lines and colorful accents
    Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

    After a long reprieve from serious congressional scrutiny, lawmakers are taking another crack at getting TikTok to sever ties from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

    The leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, chair Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), announced the introduction of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act on Tuesday. The bill, which has 19 lawmakers signed on so far, would make it illegal to distribute apps controlled by ByteDance, including TikTok, unless they sever ties from the Chinese tech giant.

    Read Article >
  • Senators find tech CEOs’ responses hollow after four-hour hearing

    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks at a press conference following the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with five tech CEOs.
    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks at a press conference following the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with five tech CEOs.
    Lauren Feiner

    During an unusually emotional hearing on Wednesday, senators spent hours trying to get a group of five tech CEOs to confront the harms their platforms have caused and submit to more checks on their power.

    The Senate Judiciary Committee invited the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snap, X, and Discord to face the families of children who’d died following cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, or other harmful events on their platforms. They asked why Section 230, the law that shields online platforms from being held liable for their users’ posts, should stop these families from facing them in court.

    Read Article >
  • TikTok’s CEO can’t catch a break from xenophobia in Congress

    The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation
    Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

    Today’s hearing on child safety was — mostly — an unusually focused affair. The Senate Judiciary Committee called up the CEOs of X, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Discord and grilled them for four hours on the potential dangers their services posed for children. Many of the lawmakers emphasized emotional impact, playing to an audience filled with families who’d had kids targeted by predators or otherwise harmed online.

    But midway through the hearing, it was dragged off course by a predictable tangent: the fact that TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. And a meeting ostensibly about keeping kids safe dipped into a now-familiar attempt to make TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew answer questions utterly unrelated to the rest of the day.

    Read Article >
  • Rep. Ro Khanna on what it will take for Congress to regulate AI, privacy, and social media

    A portrait of Rep. Ro Khanna.
    A portrait of Rep. Ro Khanna.
    Photo illustration: The Verge | Photo Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

    Today, I’m talking with Representative Ro Khanna. He’s a Democrat from California, and he’s been in Congress for about eight years now, representing California’s 17th District. It’s arguably the highest-tech district in the entire country.

    You’ll hear him say a couple times that there’s $10 trillion of tech market value in his district, and that’s not an exaggeration: Apple, Intel, and Nvidia are all headquartered there. He’s also got a big chunk of Google’s offices. So, you know, no big deal.

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