House lawmakers have once again passed legislation that could lead to a nationwide TikTok ban, renewing a massive threat to the company’s US operations.
The move could fast-track a proposal TikTok has been fighting against for weeks. If the House’s gambit succeeds, TikTok could be forced to find a new owner or be banned from the United States entirely.
Here’s what we know, and how it could affect you.
Didn’t the House just vote on something like this recently?
Yes. In March, House lawmakers approved a bill that would give TikTok roughly six months to sell. Failure to do so would lead to significant consequences: The app would be prohibited from US app stores and from “internet hosting services” that support it.
What makes this bill different?
A few things. For starters, there are some substantive changes. Instead of a six-month deadline, TikTok would have roughly nine months. And that deadline could be extended by the White House — for a period of 90 days — if President Joe Biden determines there’s been progress toward a sale.
Giving TikTok as long as a year to wrap up a forced sale appears to have changed the political calculus on Capitol Hill. Some key lawmakers who’ve previously expressed skepticism now say they support the bill. One of those lawmakers is Washington Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, who chairs the powerful Senate Commerce Committee.
Another factor that’s shaking things up is how House Republicans inserted the TikTok bill into a much larger foreign aid package. Rather than asking the Senate to vote on the TikTok bill in isolation, bundling the bill with foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel makes it much harder for lawmakers to oppose the TikTok measure.
Could the Senate vote on the foreign aid without the TikTok language?
Senators could try to strip out the TikTok legislation, but policy analysts view it as unlikely. Quickly approving the foreign aid is a top congressional priority, and if the Senate were to pass the package without the TikTok bill, those changes would have to be approved by the House, further delaying matters.
It seems more likely for the Senate to consider the entire package in a single, up-or-down vote — which is precisely what House Republicans appear to have wanted. The odds of Senate passage are as high as 80%, according to Paul Gallant, a policy analyst at the market research firm Cowen, Inc.
The Senate could vote in as little as one to two weeks, Gallant added, though Senate leadership has expressed a desire to move even faster.
What does this mean for my use of the app?
If the Senate votes to approve the TikTok legislation, it heads to President Joe Biden’s desk. Biden endorsed the prior version of the TikTok bill, which suggests he may quickly sign any foreign aid package that includes similar language targeting TikTok.