Senate Republican leader backs legislation to force Chinese divestment of TikTok

"A ban on TikTok would violate the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans," TikTok said on Friday. Many lawmakers and the Biden administration say TikTok poses national security risks because China could compel TikTok to share American user data, while TikTok insists it has never shared U.S. data and never would.

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday called for legislation to force TikTok's parent company, China's ByteDance, to divest the short video app used by 170 million Americans.

"Requiring the divestment of Beijing-influenced entities from TikTok would land squarely within established constitutional precedent," McConnell said, adding "it would begin to turn back the tide of an enormous threat to America's children." He called TikTok "America's greatest strategic rival is threatening our security right here on U.S. soil in tens of millions of American homes." The U.S. House of Representatives voted 352-65 on March 13 to give TikTok's ByteDance, about six months to divest the U.S. assets of the short-video app, or face a ban.

On Friday, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said senators can make progress "on a path forward on TikTok legislation." Schumer's statement did not outline a specific position on TikTok but said "in the weeks and months ahead, we have the opportunity to make progress on bipartisan bills" including a measure on TikTok.

Last month, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell said she was considering holding a public hearing on a TikTok crackdown bill and said senators want legislation to address concerns about the app. "The key point here is getting a tool that can be used to stop foreign actors from doing deleterious things that might harm U.S. citizens," Cantwell said. "We're get it get done and we're not going to take forever."

The fate of TikTok has become a major issue in Washington where lawmakers have been flooded with calls from users who oppose the legislation. "A ban on TikTok would violate the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans," TikTok said on Friday.

Many lawmakers and the Biden administration say TikTok poses national security risks because China could compel TikTok to share American user data, while TikTok insists it has never shared U.S. data and never would. TikTok says it has spent more than $1.5 billion on the effort to protect U.S. data and house it in the U.S.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)