TikTok’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Shou Zi Chew, warned of job losses on Wednesday (March 13), after the US House of Representatives passed a bill giving the video-sharing app’s owner, ByteDance, roughly six months to liquidate its American operations or face a ban. He also asked users to fight the ban to safeguard their “constitutional rights”.
“We believe we can defeat this together…protect your constitutional rights. “Make your voices heard,” Chew stated in a video message shared on TikTok and social media site X. “Over the last few years, we have invested to protect your data and all platforms from outside influence. We have stated that we will continue to do so. If this legislation becomes law, it will lead to a ban on TikTok in the United States,” Chew said.
Chew also stated that the law would take billions of dollars out of the pockets of innovators and small companies. “It will put more than 300,000 American jobs at risk and take away your TikTok,” he said, emphasizing that the short-video app was important to small business owners who relied on it to make ends meet. The House of Representatives bill to ban TikTok passed 352-65 in a bipartisan vote. However, it faces a more dubious route in the Senate, where some want a different strategy to regulate foreign-owned apps, raising security worries, according to Reuters. Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, stated that the proposal would be reviewed.
TikTok is used by around 170 million Americans
TikTok is used by around 170 million Americans, and its destiny has become a big issue in the United States, with senators complaining that their offices have been inundated with calls from app users opposing the legislation. Wednesday’s law is Washington’s latest response to US national security worries about China, including linked automobiles, powerful artificial intelligence processors, and cranes at American ports. Prominent House Democrats, including Kathleen Clark, Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, voted against the legislation. “There are serious antitrust and privacy questions here, and any national security concerns should be laid out to the public before a vote,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement.
Maria Cantwell, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, stated that she wanted legislation that could be upheld in court and was considering a second bill. Before the vote, some TikTok users gathered outside the Capitol. Mona Swain, a 23-year-old woman standing outside the Capitol, stated that the law will put many people out of jobs. Swain joined TikTok in 2019 and is now a full-time creator. Swain told Reuters that she used her app revenue to pay her mother’s mortgage as well as her brother and sister’s college tuition.
