On March 5, local time, bipartisan members of Congress introduced a bill on Tuesday that would require ByteDance to divest control of its short video app TikTok, otherwise it would prohibit the app store from distributing TikTok on shelves.。

It is understood that this bill is a continuation of the TikTok ban that the U.S. Congress wanted to introduce last year.。At the end of 2022, Congress also banned federal employees from using the TikTok software on government devices.。

A year later, more than a dozen senators in the U.S. Congress have again proposed a TikTok ban, including Republican Chairman Mike Gallagher of the U.S. House Select Committee on China and Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamurti.。

If the ban is successfully enacted, TikTok's parent company ByteDance will have 165 days to take control of its short video app TikTok.。If overdue, U.S. officials are likely to take coercive measures, including banning Apple, Google, and other companies from putting TikTok products on app stores or providing web hosting services for ByteDance's products.。The bill would also create a process that would enable the president to take action against social media apps that are controlled by companies with headquarters or domicile in certain countries.。

Having said that, in the 2024 election year, it is expected that the TikTok ban will still be difficult to obtain legislative approval.。Just last month, the incumbent Biden campaign began using TikTok to try to connect with younger voters.。On the day of the Super Bowl, known as the "American Spring Festival Gala," the Biden campaign released its first TikTok video, which included a question-and-answer session for Biden, which has received more than 10 million views so far.。

Compared to the "new guy" Biden, Democratic Congressman Jeff Jackson has become a familiar face on TikTok。The U.S. "Roll Call" website refers to Jackson as America's "big political Internet celebrity," where he posted videos discussing hot issues with high attention.。Speaking about the reasons for Jackson's popularity, the media said that in the video, he only talks to the camera about his work, from the expulsion of Republican Rep. George Santos (460,000 likes) to the first impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Majoras (more than 220,000 likes).。

In addition to the U.S. Congress, in March 2023, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) also asked TikTok's Chinese owners to sell their holdings, otherwise TikTok would be banned.。Rarely has the U.S. government not acted on the CFIUS request。In late November, a U.S. federal judge even blocked Montana's first ban on TikTok.。The preliminary injunction says the ban "goes beyond state rights" and violates the "constitutional rights" of TikTok users.。Montana is appealing the ruling.。

In response to this congressional reapplication for a ban, TikTok said: "This bill is a total TikTok ban, no matter how disguised the sponsors are.。This legislation will trample 1.First Amendment rights for 700 million Americans, depriving 5 million small businesses of the platform they rely on to grow and create jobs。"

TikTok CEO Shou Chew, for his part, insisted that the Chinese divestment would not fully address officials' concerns about U.S. user data.。The company has been trying to address national security concerns about its services for years with an initiative called Project Texas.。Under the plan, the data of TikTok's U.S. users will be separated into U.S. servers, and U.S. government officials will be able to supervise TikTok's source code and other operating procedures.。