Rational voices will hopefully prevail and reject the US TikTok ban bill
- The US and China should consider how the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and investors can be properly protected in the United States without raising unfair security concerns
The short-video app TikTok has about 170 million monthly active users in the United States – mostly young people – including 20 million who have joined in the past year alone.
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that would ban the app on national security grounds unless its owner ByteDance divests it within six months. But the bill must also pass the Senate, where Republican and Democratic leaders have rejected pressure to pass it quickly.
The move comes ahead of November’s presidential election, which makes it a sensitive issue for rivals President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump.
TikTok is accused of spying on Americans through collection of personal data. Amid vigorous denials by TikTok, no evidence of violation of users’ privacy has ever been provided.
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Protests at US Congress after House passes bill that could potentially ban TikTok nationwide
Biden and Trump have chequered histories with TikTok, which reflect both anti-China sentiment and electoral sensitivity among young voters. Biden’s re-election campaign organisation has reached out to them by joining TikTok.
With some polls showing his support base among voters of colour is eroding as a new generation gets to cast a ballot, Biden can ill afford to alienate any young voters.
But at the same time, with an eye on Trump’s conservative following, he says that if the Senate also passes the bill he will sign it into law.
Why is Trump now defending TikTok in the US after trying to ban it?
Trump once issued an executive order banning TikTok that was later revoked by Biden. But he now opposes a ban, saying it would only strengthen Facebook – “the real enemy of the people” – which once suspended his accounts.
The reality is that Trump is acutely conscious of the power of young voters to restore him to the White House. “There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it,” he told American network CNBC.
Meanwhile, Trump’s former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin says he is putting together a team of investors to buy TikTok from its Chinese owners if the bill ever becomes law.
TikTok and ByteDance have already begun lobbying American politicians – many of them TikTok members – and rallying users against divestment, which would require Beijing’s consent.
Beijing has vowed to “take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests”.
Can ByteDance have its TikTok cake and eat it too?
There are more twists and turns to come in the latest TikTok saga, both politically and if TikTok takes its case to American courts.
Biden got it right in 2021 when he revoked Trump’s attempt to ban both TikTok and WeChat. Hopefully rational voices will prevail again.
The damage to bilateral relations inflicted by trade and political disputes is a reminder that the world is better off with cooperation between the US and China.
The two sides should consider how the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and investors can be properly protected in the US without raising unfair security concerns.
