TikTok is owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance and has come under fire since the company admitted that certain employees had access to users’ data in the United States and Europe. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok in the US in 2020, but his planned measures failed in court.
The new bill was drafted jointly by a Republican and a Democratic senator. An anonymous source tells Reuters that the White House has provided input for the motion. Last week, another proposal that could lead to a ban on TikTok was rejected by Democrats, who deemed the plan too hasty and ill-considered. TikTok then said that a US ban on the app would “ban the export of American culture and values to the billions of people worldwide who use our service.”