PHOENIX – U.S. House lawmakers have approved legislation banning TikTok if its parent company doesn’t sell the popular social media platform.
The legislation, which was included in a package of bills that would send aid to Ukraine and Israel, could become law as soon as next week if the Senate moves quickly.
Here’s what to know about TikTok, and why it is more controversial than other social media platforms.
What’s TikTok?
The Encyclopedia Britannica describes TikTok as a “social media platform designed for creating, editing, and sharing short videos between 15 seconds and three minutes in length.” It also describes it as a separate version of Douyin, a Chinese app that has the same basic functionality but includes content of interest to the Chinese public.
On ByteDance’s website, both Douyin and TikTok are listed as among the company’s list of products. Both apps also use the same icon.
TikTok says ByteDance was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs and is currently a privately held global company that’s not controlled by any government or state entity.
How many people use TikTok?
The Associated Press stated that there are about 170 million TikTok users in the U.S.
Globally, figures from Statista show the app could have around 900 million active users worldwide in 2024.
Why is TikTok so controversial?
Reports from the Associated Press state that both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that ByteDance could share TikTok user data, such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers, with China’s authoritarian government.
Since 2017, there has been a Chinese law in place that requires companies to give the government any personal data relevant to…
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