White House hails ‘important and welcome’ bill that could ban TikTok 

The White House called a new bipartisan bill that could lead to a ban on TikTok a “welcome step” and said it will work with Congress to strengthen it, a National Security Council spokesperson told The Hill on Wednesday.

The “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” was unveiled Tuesday by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the top lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.  

It specifically defines ByteDance and TikTok as a foreign adversary controlled application and urges the parent company to divest the platform or face a ban in the U.S., while also creating a broader framework that would allow the president to designate other foreign adversary controlled applications.  

It is the latest effort to emerge after bills last year that aimed to ban TikTok, directly or indirectly, failed to gain momentum and faced criticism of being unconstitutional.  

“The Administration has worked with Members of Congress from both parties to arrive at a durable legislative solution that would address the threat of technology services operating in the United States in a way that poses risks to Americans’ sensitive data and our broader national security,” the National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.  

“This bill is an important and welcome step to address that threat,” they added.  

The spokesperson said the White House also will work with Congress in “further strengthening this legislation to put it on the strongest possible legal footing.” 

The statement from the White House was first reported by Punchbowl News. 

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek slammed the bill as an “outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much they authors try to disguise it.”  

“This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs,” he said in a statement.  

The bill’s supporters pushed back on TikTok’s accusations in a press conference Wednesday, doubling down that the bill would give ByteDance more than five months after going into effect to sell TikTok to remain operating in the U.S. 

If not, the app would be illegal to be hosted in app stores or on web hosting services in the U.S.,  banning users from gaining access.