Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., announced late April 17 that she supports a newly modified House proposal that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless China’s ByteDance divested the popular social media application.
The U.S. has no plans to remove sanctions from Iranian technology company ArvanCloud (see 2306020020) after it was delisted by the EU earlier this month, a State Department spokesperson said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said April 8 that Congress should require China’s ByteDance to divest TikTok because the popular social media application is "beholden to our foremost strategic competitor."
When the Senate returns from its two-week recess on April 8, it will have an opportunity to “work on a path forward on TikTok legislation” in addition to addressing a host of other matters, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said April 5 in a “Dear Colleague” letter.
The U.S. sanctioned two Russian companies and their leaders for helping the country’s government carry out a “foreign malign influence campaign,” including by impersonating government organizations and European media outlets.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the U.S. House of Representatives’ March 13 passage of a bill to require China’s ByteDance to divest itself of social media application TikTok (see 2403130051), saying the vote falls on the “wrong side of the principles of fair competition and international trade rules.”
If the Senate Commerce Committee takes up a House-passed bill that would ban TikTok if China’s ByteDance does not divest itself of the popular social media application, committee members probably will propose “multiple amendments” to improve the legislation, the panel’s top Republican said last week.
The House of Representatives on March 13 voted 352-65 to pass a bill that would require China’s ByteDance to divest popular social media application TikTok (see 2403050063).
A bill to ban TikTok in the U.S. if China’s ByteDance doesn’t divest the popular social media app will head to the full House of Representatives for consideration this week, said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 50-0 on March 7 to approve a bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if China’s ByteDance doesn't divest the popular social media application.