TikTok’s Chinese owners are facing the prospect of the video app being banned in the United States unless they sell its American operation.
A vote by the US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly supported a measure to force ByteDance into divestment within six months on national security grounds.
The Bill still needs to pass the Senate to become law.
President Biden’s White House has stated that it would support the legislation.
However, the ratification process would likely be held up by lengthy legal challenges.
Mr Biden’s challenger in the looming presidential election, Donald Trump, has made it clear he would be against a ban.
Supporters argue that the Bill is about protecting Americans and not banning TikTok.
The Bill contends that the Chinese firm is effectively under the control of the government in Beijing – a regime that could demand access to data on its 170 million US users at any time.
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ByteDance denies that is the case.
It is also unclear whether China would permit any sale of TikTok’s US assets.
Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers said: “We have given TikTok a clear choice: separate from your parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the CCP (the Chinese Communist Party), and remain operational in the United States, or side with the CCP and face the consequences. The choice is TikTok’s.”
The Senate is widely expected to give the Bill greater scrutiny.
It was passed through the House under a hastened process.
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