TikTok’s chief executive has vowed to fight in court to overturn a newly signed law in the US that could see the popular app banned over claims it is controlled by the Chinese government, AFP reported.
The law gives TikTok 9 months to split from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or be shut out of the US market.
Officials in the US and other Western countries say the social media platform allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users. In the United States alone, it has 170 million users, many of whom are young people.
Critics argue that TikTok is also a channel for spreading propaganda. China and the company strongly deny these claims.
“Make no mistake, this is a ban. A ban on TikTok and a ban on you and your voice,” TikTok boss Shaw Zi Chu said in a video posted on TikTok minutes after President Joe Biden signed the law.
“Politicians may say otherwise, but don’t be confused. Many of the bill’s sponsors acknowledge that banning TikTok is the ultimate goal.”
Chu called the move “ironic,” given that “freedom of expression on TikTok reflects the same American values that make the United States a beacon of freedom. Rest assured, we’re not going anywhere. We will continue to fight for your rights in the courts. The facts and the Constitution are on our side,” Chu told users on the platform.
The ban was included in a $95 billion foreign aid package that included military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The bill, which could trigger the rare step of banning a company from operating in the US market, passed the Senate by a vote of 79-18, three days after it passed the House of Representatives with strong bipartisan support.
Before the vote, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance was “subservient to the Chinese government,” which “is trying every day to steal our artificial intelligence and hack American technology.”
Americans should think of TikTok’s “power, access, capabilities, control” as something that is in the hands of the Chinese government and intelligence service, Urey said.
Under the bill, ByteDance would have to sell the app or be banned from Apple and Google’s US app stores.
According to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, likely buyers of TikTok would be Microsoft or Oracle.
TikTok has been targeted for years by US authorities, who say the platform allows Beijing to monitor US users.
The bill passed by Congress also gives the US president the power to designate other apps as threats to national security if they are controlled by a country deemed hostile.
Last week, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, spoke out against a ban on TikTok, saying “it would go against freedom of speech and expression.”
