Hours after the House of Representatives passed a bill to force TikTok to divest from ByteDance or block the platform in the United States, its head Shou Chew called on users to “defend their constitutional rights.” He also hinted that the platform administration intends to challenge this law in court if it comes into force.
Championing Constitutional Rights
“We will not stop fighting and protecting you. We will continue to do everything we can, including exercising our legal rights, to protect this amazing platform we have built with you,” said Mr. Chu. He encouraged American TikTok users to share their stories with friends, family members, and senators. “This legislation, if passed, would result in TikTok being banned in the United States. Even the authors of the bill admit that this is their goal,” added the head of the platform.
Corporate Strategy and Response
The head of TikTok also addressed employees: “Our strategy remains unchanged: we continue to believe that the best way to address national security concerns is to transparently protect user data and systems in the United States with reliable third-party monitoring.” The company is “disappointed” that the House of Representatives voted for the bill. “While we expected [this] result, I want to reiterate that the vote in the Committee and the House of Representatives is the beginning (not the end) of a long process,” Bloomberg quotes an internal TikTok document.
Potential Impact and Pushback
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act passed the House of Representatives just days after it was introduced. If the document becomes law and comes into force, the Chinese ByteDance will be forced to sell TikTok to an American company within six months – otherwise, the platform will lose access to American app stores and hosting services in the country.
Community Mobilization and Backlash
Last week, TikTok sent out push notifications to more than 170 million US users urging them to call their House members about the threat of a ban, adds NIXsolutions. As a result, high school students inundated House staff with calls asking, “What is a ‘Congressman’?” Parliamentarians criticized this action and called it an attempt to interfere in the legislative process.
Shaw Chu also noted that banning TikTok would play into the hands of social networks competing with the platform and harm hundreds of thousands of American workers, bloggers, and small businesses. We’ll keep you updated.