According to a source confirmed by Axios, the Biden Administration has warned that TikTok may face a ban in the United States unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells its stake in the U.S. version of the app.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) informed TikTok that the government intends to ban the app in the United States if its owners do not sell it, along with a general outline of what a proposal to address national security concerns would look like.
TikTok, on the other hand, claims that divestiture would not address the government’s national security concerns, instead advocating for U.S.-based user data and system protection with third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification. The potential ban would affect millions of ordinary Americans and heighten tensions between China and the United States.
TikTok has grown to be one of the most popular mobile apps in the United States, with over 100 million users, and its potential ban would have a significant impact on daily life in the United States. The Trump Administration previously threatened to ban the app in 2020, citing national security concerns, and the Biden Administration has been working behind the scenes to reach an agreement with TikTok to address these concerns.
To add to the tension, a bipartisan group of 12 senators introduced legislation that would allow the Commerce Department to prohibit any Chinese technology deemed to be an immediate national security threat. Last December, the Senate also passed legislation prohibiting the use of TikTok on government devices.
The sources for this piece include an article in Axios.