TikTok has urged its community to contact Congress.
TikTok is one of the most popular social media apps in the world right now—but it could soon be banned from the United States, thanks to a new bill making its way through the system.
The app began sending out push notifications warning users about the bill, and urging them to contact the U.S. Congress to show their support for the app. TikTok says the bill, which has received support from The White House, would "strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression."
This isn't the first time that a TikTok ban has been on the docket, either. We've already talked extensively about what happens if the U.S. bans TikTok, and even why the government wants to ban the app (it mostly comes down to concerns over TikTok spying on Americans).
The important thing to remember here, though, is that the bill isn't just aimed at TikTok. The "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," as the bill is actually named, would give the president the authority to ban TikTok, something that he has already done on government phones. But it extends further than that. The bill, if passed, would essentially give the government the power to ban any app that is controlled by a company that has ties to being controlled by an "adversary." That means it could affect other apps run by Chinese companies, too.
In TikTok's case, the app would likely need to completely sever ties with ByteDance, its parent company, to remain active in the U.S. The government argues that the bill is about providing better national security standards—though, of course, TikTok doesn't see it that way.
If the ban does go through, it's likely we'll see TikTok meeting the move with legal action, something it also did back in 2020 when the former president signed an executive order in an attempt to ban the app completely. That, of course, was blocked by a federal judge, and the app has remained available for American users since.
I haven't personally received the notification that TikTok is sending out just yet, but others have reported receiving it since Wednesday, when the first news of the ban began to break.
