President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law measures to provide aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, as well as to compel Chinese TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a national ban, CNBC reported.
Biden’s official approval ends a six-month saga of tense political battles on Capitol Hill that led to a deadlock on the issue of foreign aid.
“The path to my desk was a difficult path. It should have been easier and it should’ve gotten there sooner,” Biden said Wednesday after signing the bill. “But in the end we did what America always does, we rose to the moment.”
The law earmarks roughly $60 billion in aide for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and $8 billion for security in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. It also requires ByteDance to sell TikTok within nine months – or a year, if Biden invokes a 90-day extension — or else face a nationwide ban in the U.S.
TikTok has already vowed to fight the measure.
Engadget reported the bill that will force a sale of TikTok in the United States is now law. President Joe Biden signed a package of foreign aide bills that included the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” one day after the legislation was approved by the Senate.
In a statement, TikTok said it would challenge the law in court, which could delay an eventual sale or ban. “This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court,” the company said. “We believe the facts and that law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail. The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans.”
The law gives TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, which is based in China, up to a year to sell the app to a new owner. If the company fails to divest, then TikTok will be banned from US apps stores and web hosting services.
The Verge reported President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package that includes a bill that would ban TikTok if China-based parent company ByteDance fails to divest the app within a year.
The divest-or-ban bill is now law, starting the clock for ByteDance to make its move. The company has an initial nine months to sort out a deal, though the president could extend that another three months if he sees progress.
While just recently the legislation seemed like it would stall out in the Senate after being passed as a standalone bill in the House, political maneuvering helped usher it through to Biden’s desk. The House packaged the TikTok bill — which upped the timeline for divestment from the six months allowed in the earlier version – with foreign aid to US allies, which effectively forced the Senate to consider the measures together.
In my opinion, it makes sense for President Biden to give ByteDance time to sell TikTok to find a new buyer for the app. If ByteDance fails to divest, it will likely lose access to US apps stores.