House bundles TikTok ban-or-sale bill with Ukraine-Israel aid package, pressuring Senate

The House will vote on a bill that will force a sale or total ban of China-owned TikTok as soon as Saturday after Speaker Mike Johnson signaled the measure will be bundled with a foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel.

The modified version of the fast-tracked legislation would give Beijing-based ByteDance up to a year to divest its stake in TikTok or be banned in the US, Bloomberg reported. Thats an increase from the six-month window from the bills original version, which passed by House by overwhelming majority last month.

House lawmakers are expected to pass the bundled bills this weekend, setting up a vote in the Senate that could take place next week. President Biden has already indicated he would sign the TikTok ban-or-sale bill if it reaches his desk.

The timeline extension could help assuage the bills critics in the Senate, some of whom have argued that the six-month window was too tight to complete a sale.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who had expressed some reservations about the legislation, said she now supports it.

Im very happy that Speaker Johnson and House leaders incorporated my recommendation to extend the Byte Dance divestment period from six months to a year, Cantwell said in a statement. As Ive said, extending the divestment period is necessary to ensure there is enough time for a new buyer to get a deal done. I support this updated legislation.

Some experts had expressed skepticism that the Senate would hold a vote on the bill before the November 2024 election and risk upsetting the popular apps supporters.

Lawmakers from both parties have pushed for a crackdown on TikTok due to concerns that the app, which has more than 170 million American users, could be used as a spying and propaganda tool for the Chinese government. TikTok officials deny wrongdoing.

A recent report released by US intelligence officials found that TikTok has played a role in malign influence operations, with accounts run by a PRC propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the US midterm election cycle in 2022.

TikTok has vowed to fight any forced sale in court. The company has argued that the House bill is a de facto ban and that, even if it were inclined to sell, a deal couldnt be completed in six months.

It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform, TikTok said in a statement on the updated push.

Some potential buyers have already emerged as the legislation works its way through Congress.

As The Post reported earlier this week, ex-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is looking to partner with one or more firms that have artificial intelligence expertise in order to buy TikTok and rebuild its recommendation algorithm in the US.

Sources said Mnuchin believes rebuilding the app will allow his potential group of buyers to address US security concerns as well as Chinas strict export laws on technology.

Experts said the cloud-computing and AI giant Oracle would be a logical partner for Mnuchin’s bid.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that former Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick had met with ByteDance executives regarding a potential sale.

Elsewhere, Politico reported that staffers at the Chinese Embassy in Washington have recently held meetings with Congressional aides to lobby against the TikTok sale-or-ban bill.