WASHINGTON:
The Energy and Commerce Committee’s 50-0 vote marks the most significant push for a US crackdown on TikTok, which has about 170 million US users, since President Donald Trump tried unsuccessfully to ban the app in 2020.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said X lawmakers will vote next week “to force TikTok to cut its ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”
TikTok users flooded Capitol Hill with calls urging lawmakers not to support the measure after the app warned users it could be banned.
Asked whether the bill could affect the US operations of Tencent’s WeChat, which Trump sought to ban in 2020, Gallagher said he would not speculate but said “going forward we can discuss what companies fall” under the bill.
The new law aims to strengthen the legal authority to deal with TikTok. Trump tried to ban TikTok in 2020, but was blocked by US courts.
A US judge also blocked Montana’s first-of-its-kind state ban on TikTok in late November, saying it violated users’ free speech rights.
