TikTok to fight ban after US pushes forward with outlawing app
The IndependentSign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The US House of Representatives passed a bill over the weekend that would force Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the viral social media platform within a year to avoid a nationwide ban. In response, TikTok’s head of public policy sent a memo to staff saying that the legislation is a “clear violation of the First Amendment rights of TikTok’s 170 million American users”. “It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans,” TikTok said in a statement. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, a free speech group, said the latest bill had “no real pay-off” because China and other US rivals could still buy Americans’ data from brokers in the open market and engage in disinformation campaigns using US-based social media platforms.