The US House of Representatives has passed a historic bill that might lead to TikTok's prohibition in the United States.
It would give the social media giant's Chinese parent firm, ByteDance, six months to liquidate its entire ownership or prohibit the app in the United States.
While the legislation passed easily in a bipartisan vote, it still needs to pass the Senate and be signed by the president before it becomes law.
Legislators have long been worried about the influence that China has on TikTok.
TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese startup formed in 2012.
The Beijing-based company is registered in the Cayman Islands and has offices around Europe and the United States.
If the bill does manage to secure approval in the Senate, President Joe Biden has pledged to sign it as soon as it arrives on his desk, perhaps sparking a diplomatic confrontation with China.
To accomplish a forced divestment, ByteDance would need clearance from Chinese officials, which Beijing intends to resist. Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, stated that the move will "come back to bite the US."
Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who co-wrote the bill, stated that the US could not "accept the risk of having a dominant news platform in America controlled or owned by a company beholden to the Chinese Communist Party."
Chinese enterprises are subject to national security legislation, which necessitates that they provide data to the government upon demand.
This story was originally published on the BBC.