Mike Gallagher Proposes Law Mandatory ByteDance To Release TikTok In Six Months

Mike Gallagher, Republican Republican Chair on the special Chinese committee of the House of Representatives (photo: x @MikeforWI)

JAKARTA - A bipartisan group of US legislative members will introduce legislation on Tuesday 5 March, which will give ByteDance a company from China about six months to release the popular short video app TikTok or face ban in the US.

Mike Gallagher, chairman of the Republican Republic on a special Chinese committee of the House of Representatives and Representatives of King Krishna Moorthi, a member of the top Democratic Party, introduced legislation along with more than a dozen other members to address national security concerns raised by China's possession of the app.

"Aplications like TikTok being controlled by foreign enemies pose an unacceptable risk to US national security," legislators said in a fact sheet. TikTok did not immediately comment on the report.

The bill will give ByteDance 165 days to release TikTok, which is used by more than 170 million Americans, or will violate the law for app stores operated by Apple, Google, and others to offer TikTok or to provide web hosting services to apps controlled by ByteDance. The bill will not authorize law enforcement against individual users of affected apps.

The Senate bill to ban the popular app was stalled at Congress last year facing heavy pressure from TikTok. The bill is a significant first legislative movement towards bans or forcing ByteDance to release the app in nearly a year.

The bill, which will require complementary legislation in the Senate, is expected to be discussed in the Energy and Trade Committee's hearing on Thursday, March 7, for a potential vote and could pose a serious threat to ByteDance's ownership of TikTok.

However, the app is very popular and getting legislative approval in the election year may be difficult. Last month, Democratic President Joe Biden's re-nomination campaign joined TikTok.

The bill will give the president new powers to set an application of concern that poses a national security risk and faces bans or restrictions without breaking shares. This will apply to apps with "more than a million annual active users, and are under the control of foreign enemy entities."

Concerns about China's TikTok last year sparked efforts at Congress to power up to tackle the popular short video sharing app or potential ban it.

The White House, which did not immediately comment on the new bill, supports Senator Mark Warner's legislation and more than twenty-five other senators last year to give the government new powers to ban TikTok and other foreign-based technologies if they pose a national security threat. The bill has never been voiced.

The United States Foreign Investment Committee led by the US Treasury (CFIUS) in March 2023 demanded TikTok owners sell their shares, or face the possibility that the app was banned, reporting Reuters and other media, but the government has not taken any action.

The new bill aims to strengthen legal powers to address TikTok concerns. Biden's predecessor, President Donald Trump, tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but was blocked by US courts.

Other non-social media Chinese applications, such as those run by retailers Shein and Temu, will not be covered by the bill.