Tiktok ban: what does House approving bill mean for my account?

Tiktok hangs in the balance on Capitol Hill as the US government is edging closer to banning the popular video-sharing app after a landslide vote in the House of Representatives.
The House passed on Wednesday a bill that would bar access to TikTok in the US if the social media platform’s China-based parent company ByteDance does not divest themselves from it.
If the bill is signed into law, the app would be removed from Apple and Google’s app stores and web hosting services in the US.
But what does it mean for the average American user?
First, TikTok would be removed app stores including Apple and Google if it were too banned. However, the bill amounts to just the first stage of legislation being passed. For a law to be enacted, it would need to be finalized in the Senate.
TikTok’s fate now lies in the hands of the Senate, especially since Biden said he would sign the bill if it gets through both chambers of Congress.
“If they pass it, I’ll sign it,” Biden said on Friday when asked by reporters about the legislation, according to CBS News.
The bill – passed by a vote of 352-65 – now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has not yet committed to how the Senate will move forward.
Both House Republicans and Democrats have pushed for the ban with concerns that the company’s current ownership structure poses national security risks, citing ByteDance’s alleged activities of sharing Americans’ information with the Chinese government.
But while the vote came in a bipartisan effort, there was pushback from representatives on both sides of the aisle who expressed concerns that a ban would shut down the freedom of speech and expression.
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) said on Tuesday he opposed this “masked effort that will most likely result in TikTok being banned,” according to the Associated Press.
TikTok has also pushed back on the accusations that it poses a threat to national security and opposed the legislation, citing First Amendment rights.
“This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs,” TikTok said last week.
TikTok, which has more than 150 million active users in the US, is a subsidiary of China-based technology firm ByteDance Ltd.
The lawmakers contend that ByteDance is closely associated with the Chinese government, which could demand the company to hand over TikTok data on American users, exposing sensitive information.
This vote comes after the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released on Monday an annual threat assessment on the major world threats.
The assessment highlighted concerns about Beijing’s growing efforts to exploit U.S. user data and to influence electoral campaigns through the social media platform.
“TikTok accounts run by a PRC propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the U.S. midterm election cycle in 2022,” the report said, using an acryonym to refer to China.
The bill, known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, would force ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, to sell the US version of the app within six months of the bill going into effect.
The bill was first introduced in a bipartisan effort by co-sponsers Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). Both of them serve as Chairman and Ranking member on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, respectively.
It was then approved by the departments of Energy and Commerce before heading to the House.