Senate Passes Bill with TikTok Ban in US: What’s Next for the App?

The Senate just gave the nod to a bill that could kick TikTok out of the US. It’s all part of this big foreign aid package. Once Biden puts his John Hancock on it, ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, has got 270 days to find a buyer. Trump tried to pull a similar move with an executive order, but the courts weren’t having it.

So, the Senate got this bill through on Tuesday, and if Biden’s true to his word, he’ll sign it soon. The vote was pretty lopsided, with 79 saying “aye” and only 18 giving it the thumbs down.

Now, this bill was snuck into a bunch of other bills the House passed recently. They were sending aid to places like Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, and there was even some cash for humanitarian aid in Gaza. But buried in all that was a little something for TikTok: either ByteDance sells it off to an American company or it’s hasta la vista.

The House tried something similar back in March, but they gave ByteDance a shorter deadline. Now, they’ve extended it to 270 days. Seems like that was enough to convince Senator Maria Cantwell, who wasn’t too keen on the earlier version.

One big issue with this bill is that it straight-up calls out ByteDance by name. That’s raised some legal red flags, and Cantwell wasn’t the only one sweating about it.

Biden’s been talking about supporting this bill for ages now. Back when Trump was still in office, he tried to strong-arm ByteDance into selling off TikTok to an American buyer. But that plan got a big ol’ nope from the courts.

TikTok’s been fighting tooth and nail against this bill. They’ve been rallying their users to hit up their reps and make some noise, and even their CEO took a trip to DC to try and squash it. And apparently, China’s not too happy about it either — they’ve been whispering in Congress’s ear about their beef with the whole thing.

Once Biden scribbles his name on the dotted line, TikTok’s promised to take this whole thing to court.

But here’s the kicker: banning TikTok might not be a smart move for Biden, especially with an election coming up. The app’s huge with the younger crowd, and every vote’s gonna count. Even Trump seemed to get that, going back on his own talk of banning it when he was in charge.