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KEY TAKEAWAYS
- President Biden on Wednesday is set to sign into law a measure that could ban TikTok from American app stores.
- If signed, Chinese owner ByteDance will have up to a year to sell the social media app or face having it banned from the U.S.
- The Senate late Tuesday approved the bill, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed last month, on the grounds that TikTok could affect national security.
President Biden on Wednesday is set to sign into law a measure that could ban TikTok from American app stores, giving Chinese owner ByteDance up to a year to sell the social-media app or face having it banned from the U.S.
The Senate late Tuesday approved the bill, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed last month, on the grounds that TikTok could affect national security, with China potentially able to collect intelligence on U.S. users.
TikTok has said it plans to challenge the bill, while Beijing is reportedly unlikely to allow any sale of it. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, video sharing platform Rumble, and others have in recent months expressed interest in buying TikTok.
Banning TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, could potentially boost U.S. social media such as Meta Platforms (META) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), which have their own popular short-form video sites, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, respectively. Snap (SNAP), the parent of Snapchat, could also gain.