the tiktok divestmentorban bill has been approved by the us senate, with president biden expected to sign it into law.

The us senate has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill that would prohibit tiktok in the united states if bytedance the chinese tech company that owns it does not divest the app within the next nine to twelve months. 

Concerns about china potentially accessing american data or conducting surveillance through the app have prompted this decision.

The bill was approved by the us house of representatives and president joe biden has indicated his intention to sign it into law. Senator marco rubio, the leading republican on the intelligence committee, emphasized the importance of this legislation, stating that allowing the chinese communist party to control such a popular app in america was a serious oversight. He believes that requiring the chinese owner to sell the app is a positive step for the country.

The us senate has voted with a significant majority late tuesday, in support of a bill that would prohibit tiktok in the united states. If bytedance the chinese tech company that owns it does not sell the popular short video app within the next nine to twelve months concerns. Among us lawmakers about china potentially accessing americans' data or surveilling them through the app have driven the bill's passage in the us house of representatives on saturday, president joe biden has indicated his intention to sign it into law on wednesday, the chinese foreign ministry, when asked about The senate's decision referred back to statements made in march when a similar bill was passed by the house of representatives.

The ministry had criticized the legislation, then stating that, despite the lack of evidence of tiktok posing a threat to us national security, the us continued to target the app. The ongoing dispute over tiktok, which boasts 170 million users in the united states, is just one aspect of the broader conflict over the internet and technology between washington and beijing. Recently apple was instructed by beijing to remove whatsapp and threads from its app store in china. Due to national security concerns, tiktok plans to challenge the bill on first amendment grounds and users are expected to pursue legal action as well.

In november, a us judge in montana blocked a state ban on tiktok, citing free speech considerations. The american civil liberties union warned that banning or mandating the divestiture of tiktok could establish a troubling global precedent of excessive government influence over social media platforms, potentially prompting similar actions by other nations. Tiktok has stated that it has not shared and will not share us user data with the chinese government.

The company did not provide an immediate comment but informed its employees that it would promptly seek legal action to oppose the legislation according to an email obtained by reuters. Tiktok informed its staff on saturday that this is just the beginning of a lengthy process. The senate approved the bill with a vote of 79 to 18, which was part of a larger measure to allocate $ 95 billion in military aid, primarily for ukraine, israel and taiwan. The directive for tiktok divestment received expedited approval shortly after its introduction.

A few weeks ago, back in 2020, former president donald trump faced legal obstacles when attempting to ban tiktok and wechat a chineseowned app under tencent 0700hk in the united states, the biden administration is expected to have a stronger legal basis to ban tiktok. If bytedance does not divest the app according to experts in case of bytedance's, failure to divest tiktok app stores, like apple, google and others, would be unable to offer tiktok or provide web hosting services to bytedancecontrolled applications or tiktok's website. The legislation would grant the white house additional tools to ban or compel the sale of other foreignowned apps considered security threats. Senator ron wyden expressed concerns about the bill stating that it could potentially be misused by a future administration to infringe upon americans' first amendment rights.

Once the bill becomes, law, bytedance will have 270 days to divest tiktok's us operations with a potential threemonth extension. If progress is being made towards a deal, senator ed markey believes that bytedance may find it challenging, if not impossible, to divest by early 2025, emphasizing that the sale would be an intricate and costly transaction requiring extensive due diligence over months or even years. He emphasized that the law is essentially a tiktok ban and warned against censorship, stating that it goes against the values of the american people. The bill could become a focal point in the upcoming presidential campaign, with republican candidate trump urging young voters to take into account the possibility of a tiktok ban.