President Biden signed a major new law Wednesday that could potentially kick TikTok out of the U.S. market or force its sale.
The Senate had green-lit the decision with a 79 to 18 vote on Tuesday afternoon, wrapping it into a larger package that also sends support to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. The House was already on board, having passed the bill last Saturday. Biden, speaking from the White House, confirmed the deal was sealed but did not speak to TikTok specifics.
“Congress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok or any other individual company,” Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, said on the Senate floor before the vote. “Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.”
Now, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has about nine months to either sell the app or watch it get banned across the nation—though Biden could delay that deadline for another 90 days if needed.
With support from both parties, this law throws the biggest curveball yet at TikTok’s U.S. dominance. The app has grown to be about more than just dance videos and memes; it’s a heavyweight with over 170 million American users and has woven itself deeply into the U.S. economy and culture. The big worry for lawmakers? That ByteDance could let the Chinese government spy on user data. TikTok, however, denies those claims.
Predictably, TikTok is not going to just sit back and watch. They’ve already announced plans to fight the law in court, kicking off what could be a drawn-out legal showdown. The company called the move “unconstitutional,” claiming that it violates the First Amendment rights of its app users. Despite TikTok’s major pushback—urging fans to speak out to Congress and flooding the airwaves with ads about their tight data security—lawmakers weren’t swayed.