Congress Takes One Step Closer to a TikTok Ban

By a unanimous vote, fifty members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill that would functionally ban TikTok unless it sells its US operations to a competitor. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” — which, given its inelegant acronym of PAFFACAA, seems destined to be known simply as the TikTok ban bill — would prohibit Chinese companies or investors from having a 20 percent or larger ownership share of major social media platforms operating in the US. Should Bytedance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, fail to divest in a timely fashion, massive financial penalties would be imposed on any app store that carried TikTok.

The bill is speedrunning through Congress: a surprise introduction on Tuesday, a quick markup on Thursday, and the promise of a full House vote next week. It is a clever, well‐​organized move. Given that 170 million Americans use TikTok — or more than half the country — the specter of a ban on the popular app could rouse massive popular backlash if given time to develop. They’re correct to be concerned.