TikTok vs US: House Votes for Potential Ban, But Senate Battle Looms

Hold on a sec, this bill doesn't mean TikTok is getting the boot just yet. Even if it passes and gets signed, your app won't vanish in a puff of smoke. Here's the real deal:

This bill basically tells ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, to sell the app to an American company within six months. If they refuse, then TikTok gets the boot. This mirrors what happened in 2020 under Trump, where he tried to force a sale or ban, but the courts shut it down. Now, the Biden administration is taking a softer approach, reviewing apps that might be security risks.

So why the worry about TikTok? Lawmakers are spooked that China might be grabbing user data. And there's some reason to be nervous. Last year, ByteDance employees snooped on American journalists through their TikTok accounts to find leakers! They also said they kept all US data in the US, but then it turned out some was chilling in China.

Look, TikTok probably isn't sucking up more data than other apps. But here's the thing: Congress isn't exactly your data privacy knight in shining armor. Their real concern is that this data isn't going to an American company, but potentially to a country the US doesn't exactly see eye-to-eye with. Plus, there's the fear China might be messing with what you see on your feed. That's why so many lawmakers are scrambling to do something about this wildly popular app.

Where do we go from here?

So, is TikTok getting the boot? Not so fast. While the House of Representatives practically kicked it out the door with a bipartisan vote (meaning both Democrats and Republicans agreed), the Senate isn't quite ready to follow suit.

Sure, some big names like Senators Marco Rubio and Mark Warner are gung-ho about banning TikTok. But others, like John Cornyn, aren't so convinced. Some senators think the bill should target more apps, not just TikTok. Others are worried about poking the Chinese dragon – wondering how China might react if the US bans their popular app.

Another pressure is the popularity of TikTok itself. Some senators, particularly Democrats, are concerned that passing a bill that could lead to a TikTok ban would hurt President Biden in the upcoming election. Even Trump, who tried to ban the app in 2020, recently said the app shouldn't be banned, although that's likely more fueled by his feud with Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, who Trump blames in part for his loss in 2020.

The future of TikTok in the US is still up in the air. It all depends on what happens in the Senate. We'll have to wait and see if the mood there changes in the coming weeks.

One thing's for sure: President Biden isn't likely to stand in the way of a ban if the Senate gets its act together and agrees on a bill. Unless someone on his team can convince him that banning TikTok would be a disaster for his already low approval ratings with young voters, he'll probably just sign it on the dotted line.

And if the bill is signed into law?

This is America, land of the free and home of the bargain! So, you can bet your bottom dollar that if this TikTok ban bill passes, American businesses will be chomping at the bit to buy it from ByteDance.

The fight's already on, even before the Senate takes a peek at the bill. Word on the street is that Bobby Kotick, the former head honcho at Activision, pitched buying TikTok at a swanky dinner last week. Apparently, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, was also there. Then, just yesterday, news broke that Steve Mnuchin, the old Treasury Secretary, is putting together an investor group to snag the app. (Seriously, is being a "former" something a requirement to buy TikTok?)

Truth is, nobody knows for sure if ByteDance will actually sell if the bill becomes law. But hey, if they do decide to unload TikTok, they'll have a whole line of American suitors waiting with open checkbooks.