President Biden, on Wednesday, is poised to sign a bill that may essentially ban TikTok from app stores in America. The law presents Chinese firm ByteDance, TikTok's owner, with a year-long window for selling the social media platform or risk a comprehensive ban in the U.S.
Late on Tuesday, the Senate supported the bill, an action already executed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month. The legislation is based on concerns that TikTok could impact national security by enabling China to accrue intelligence on U.S. users.
Despite this looming threat, TikTok intends to contest the bill. A sale of the platform is unlikely to be approved by Beijing. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Rumble, a video-sharing platform, have previously shown interest in purchasing TikTok.
The potential ban of TikTok, which boasts 170 million American users, may serve as a boon for U.S. social media entities. Among the likely beneficiaries are Meta Platforms and Alphabet. These firms operate well-liked short-form video sites, namely Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Snap, in its capacity as Snapchat's parent company, may also stand to gain significantly.