TikTok ban signed into law by Biden, ByteDance has nine months to divest

In just one week, the United States legislative branch passed the national security package into law, including a bill that can potentially ban TikTok from the US. The bill passed the House of Representatives on Monday and the Senate yesterday and was later signed by President Joe Biden into law.

This turn of events gives TikTok's parent company ByteDance two options – divest TikTok to an American company in the next nine months, which the President can extend to twelve if there is "progress" or face an effective ban on the platform. TikTok issued an official statement which you can read below. The company plans to challenge the ban in court calling it unconstitutional.

Our Statement on Enactment of the TikTok Ban:

This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court. We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail. The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S.…

— TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) April 24, 2024

TikTok is one of the largest and fastest-growing social networks in the world, boasting over 1 billion monthly users and over 170 million active users in the US alone. It is the first app to reach $10 billion in-app spending making it's uncertain future in the US a high stakes game.

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