Forced To Separate From ByteDance, TikTok Starts Acting

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JAKARTA TikTok began to act after lawmakers introduced a bill (RUU) that cornered its application. The bill wants to force TikTok to part with ByteDance.

The app is starting to fight back by warning millions of users in the US. With the title Stop Closing TikTok, the platform invites its users to move against a bill drawn by Congress.

"Talk now and before your government revokes 170 million Americans' constitutional right to freedom of expression," the warning read. "Tell Congress what TikTok means to you and ask them to vote no."

TikTok describes this bill as a means of destroying freedom of expression and business. According to TikTok, "This will destroy millions of businesses, destroy countless creators across the country, and keep artists from watching them."

This report received an extraordinary response. Reporter Olivia totals, quoted from Engadget, revealed in Threads that the US House of Representatives (DPR) had been flooded with phone calls questioning TikTok's closure.

One of the DPR staff also said on platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that many high school students contacted his office. However, this call is quite ridiculous because they don't understand what Congress is.

"We got a lot of calls from high school students asking what a member of Congress was. Yes, that's right," said DPR staff Taylor Hulsey on Thursday, March 7.

The bill to separate TikTok from its parent company in China will vote next week. If the bill is approved by a majority of lawmakers, the bill will become a law and TikTok must comply.

TikTok will be given up to six months to break away from ByteDance as the law wants, "Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Enemy."