Heaptalk, Jakarta — The United States (US) Senate has authorized a ban on using the TikTok application in this Uncle Sam’s country, marked by the signing of the bill by the US President, Joe Biden.
Last March, before the President officially signed it, the policymaker passed this law by obtaining around 352 votes to 65, which stated the urgency of blocking TikTok if ByteDance still avoids diversifying its shares to the US company within the next six months after this bill was passed.
“For years, we have allowed the Chinese Communist party to control one of the most popular apps in the US that was dangerously shortsighted. A new law will require its Chinese owner to unleash the apps and sell them to the US. A good move for America,” Senator Marco Rubio, the top Republican on Intelligence, commented on the matter, Reuters reported.
The legislation provides TikTok with nine months to divest from its parent company, ByteDance, which is estimated to be worth US$50 billion, or be shut down from the US market. This decision was ratified as the US government accused the TikTok platform of unlocking access to the Chinese government to collect data and spy on its users. As one of its largest markets, TikTok is known to have around 170 users in the US.
Nevertheless, in response to this bill ratification, This measure is likely TikTok’s parent company prefers to shut down the app operation in the US rather than unleash the platform if ByteDance exhausts overall legal options to combat the ban policy. On the other hand, the company perceived that it is also unclear who has the resources to purchase these social media apps since the platform has a hefty price tag.
On the other hand, the company is also unlikely to divest TikTok with its algorithm because the intellectual property license has been registered under China’s ByteDance, making it difficult to separate from the parent company.
TikTok pledged to combat the law, as the CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, said in the video posted, “We are not going anywhere. We are confident, and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts,”
