On Wednesday, April 24, President Joe Biden signed a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok, according to CNN.
CNN, this may not happen if the Chinese company ByteDance does not sell its stake.
The ban on TikTok was included in the bill providing foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
The law itself does not provide for an immediate block of TikTok.
The bill signed by Biden gives the Chinese parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, 270 days to sell TikTok. Failure to do so will result in serious consequences: TikTok will be banned from US app stores and from internet hosts that support it.
In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson called the law unconstitutional and said it would destroy the platform's 170 million users in the US and 7 million companies that work with the app.
Why did the TikTok ban end up in the foreign aid bill
A similar bill regarding TikTok was passed by the House of Representatives in March but stalled in the Senate.
Procedurally, House Republicans this month added the revised TikTok bill to the foreign aid package, hoping to force the Senate to vote on the TikTok legislation.
It is noted that combining the bill with foreign aid was a top priority for the US - it sped up the TikTok bill and increased the likelihood of its passage.
US plans to ban TikTok
On April 20, the US House of Representatives voted to support aid to Ukraine and also voted on a bill that could lead to a ban on the Chinese app TikTok in the US. However, this bill could potentially open the door to banning many other foreign apps and platforms.
Additionally, President Joe Biden signed a bill allocating funds for aid to Ukraine. The US will now be able to provide Ukraine with a new package of military aid.
Earlier, RBC-Ukraine reported on the US blocking TikTok, whether this could happen in Ukraine, and what bloggers think about it.