Earlier this year, the United States House of Representatives voted to pass HR 7521, a bill that if signed into law would effectively ban TikTok in the United States. To learn more about this bill, its purpose, and how it was passed in the House, check out The Script’s past coverage. 

After being passed in the House with 352 yay votes, HR 7521, formally known as the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” was then moved along to be debated in the United States Senate. After the bill stalled in the Senate, House Republicans were eager to attach it to a $95 billion package that provides aid to Ukraine and Israel. This attachment ultimately expedited the bill, with the Senate passing it in a 79-18 vote on Tuesday, April 23. It was then sent to President Biden who previously vowed to sign it once it came across his desk. He kept his word, and on Wednesday morning codified the bill into law. 

Adding the TikTok bill to the aid package led to some revised legislation of the bill. The Chinese-owned ByteDance now has 9 months to divest ownership of TikTok to a U.S. tech company, compared to its previous 6-month deadline. This was due to concerns that such a complex deal couldn’t be properly made in such a short time frame. This new 9-month deadline could also be given a 3-month extension if a sale is in progress. 

While it may seem like the fate of TikTok is set in stone, ByteDance isn’t going to go down without a fight. They are expected to challenge this bill in court, citing a first-amendment rights violation. ByteDance will likely claim that the forced sale will allow the new owner of TikTok to limit what users are able to share and say on the app. There will also likely be backlash from the Chinese government, who could potentially block a sale seeing as it falls under export regulations they put in place after President Trump tried to force a sale of the app back in 2020. 

Many companies are eager to purchase TikTok and its ever-growing user base, but it looks like ByteDance will pull out all the stops to maintain TikTok’s presence in the U.S. They aim to keep the app up and running throughout their legal battles and beyond, with their chief executive Shou Chew stating: “Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere.”