Congress is currently considering legislation to counter the threats posed by TikTok, a Chinese social media app that spies on Americans and steals their data.
The House on March 13 passed by a wide bipartisan margin the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which gives TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, a choice: Sever ties with the Chinese government or cease business operations in the United States. It’s now up to the Senate to take up the bill.
In response, some have framed the bill as an outright TikTok ban. That claim is factually mistaken because the House-passed bill does not have that effect. But that claim does pose the question of whether Congress could ban TikTok from the United States altogether. The answer is “yes,” even though this bill doesn’t do that.
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