The US Senate has approved a controversial landmark bill that could see TikTok banned in America.
It gives TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, six months to sell its stake or the app will be blocked in the United States.
The bill will now be handed over to US President, Joe Biden, who has vowed to sign it into law as soon as it reaches his desk.
If that happens, ByteDance will have to seek approval from Chinese officials to complete a forced sale, which Beijing has vowed to oppose.
The measure was passed as part of a package of four bills which also included military aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and other US partners in the Indo- Pacific.
It got widespread support from lawmakers with 79 Senators voting for it and 18 voting against it.
I’m sure the US will try, but the EU has been forcing US tech monopolies to allow third party app stores in the European market over the past few years. The EU would have to pull a pretty significant legal 180 to give US monopolies the power to enforce the kind of bans the US is implementing. That’s not to say it won’t happen; it’s just not quite as easy to accomplish as it is in the US.