US Regulators Pass a Second Bill That Could Ban TikTok Sooner

• After passing a TikTok ban bill in March, the House of Representatives passed another bill on Saturday that gives TikTok roughly 1 year to cut ties with ByteDance or risk getting banned.
• The unique thing about this bill is that it's been bundled into 5-piece legislation along with foreign aid bills for Ukraine and Israel. So, it might get passed much faster.
• TikTok CEO Shou Chew is naturally unhappy with the developments and has said he will exercise his legal rights" if needed. Simply put, he will challenge the bill in court.

US regulators just shared a major update about the proposed TikTok ban bill. On Saturday (April 20), the House of Representatives voted 360-58 on a new bill that forces TikTok to cut ties with ByteDance or get removed from all app stores in the US.

If you have been following this news for a while, you know that the first TikTok ban bill was passed in March. It said that ByteDance will have to sell TikTok within 6 months - or the latter will be banned from all US app stores as well as internet hosting services.

Why another bill then? Well, this one's a little different. Keep reading to find out all about it.

What Makes The Second TikTok Ban Bill Different?

There are three major differences between the first bill and the one that the House voted on two days ago.

Difference #1

The previous bill gave TikTok only 6 months to cut ties with ByteDance. This seemed difficult, particularly because China vowed to prevent any attempt ByteDance makes to sell the company.

As per the new bill, ByteDance will get 9 months to close the sale. An additional 90 days can be given if President Joe Biden decides that there's been enough progress toward making the sale at the end of the stipulated 9 months.

Difference #2

The last bill was introduced as a standalone piece of legislation. However, the new TikTok bill has been bundled up into 5-piece legislation which includes an immigration bill and foreign aid bills for Ukraine and Israel.

This means that even the regulators that were previously against the TikTok ban will now be more likely to vote in favor of it.

Difference #3

The previous bill banned people from downloading TikTok from all sources, with no exceptions. However, the new bill bans the app from US app stores only. People can still access it from other sources.

The bill has reached the Senate. If approved, it will be sent to President Joe Biden, who had earlier joined TikTok despite warnings from security advisors. However, that was before even the first bill, which Biden supported.

So, it's highly likely that he will approve the second bill as well. If everything should presumably go as planned, TikTok's 12-month countdown starts right now.

Read more: TikTok launches a dedicated photo-sharing app TikTok Notes to compete with Instagram. Interestingly, it will be a different app altogether, with little to no ties with the base TikTok app - a huge reason for which could be the impending TikTok ban. Perhaps TikTok has already begun planting its roots elsewhere to stay in the United States?

What Can TikTok Do Now?Once the bill reaches the Senate, the House can isolate the TikTok bill and pass the rest as a bundle. However, policy analysts don't think that's likely because approving the foreign aid bill remains a top priority.

It's unlikely because if the Senate decides to remove the TikTok bill, it would then have to go back to the House of Representatives for their approval, adding to the delay.

Either TikTok can comply with the bill or challenge the bill in court, which TikTok CEO Shou Chew already said that he plans to do. Also, it looks like TikTok won't be alone in the fight against the US government.

When the bill was first announced, a lot of activist groups (The American Civil Liberties Union for example) also condemned the decision and said it violates the First Amendment rights of TikTok users.

Experts say that if it's found that the bill truly violates First Amendment rights, it will immediately be scrapped by the court.

Policy director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, Nadine Farid Johnson said that the First Amendment gives US citizens the right to access media, information, and ideas from foreign countries.

By banning TikTok, the bill would infringe on this right, and with no real pay-off. China and other foreign adversaries could still purchase Americans' sensitive data from data brokers on the open market.Nadine Farid Johnson

The company has also condemned the bundling of the TikTok bill with the foreign aid bills. In a statement, it said that the regulators are using humanitarian assistance as a cover to take away the fundamental rights of 170 million Americans.

The last option for TikTok is to just get on with it and cut ties with ByteDance. However, that doesn't seem to be a viable option because China has already announced that it will oppose the sale.

The Chinese government is more interested in TikTok's advanced algorithm than the company itself. So, it might ban the sale completely or allow ByteDance to sell the app without selling its underlying algorithm.

Read more: TikTok banned in Nepal over detrimental effects on social harmony.

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