The US House of Representatives will vote today on a bill that could significantly affect the future of the popular app TikTok, which holds the number one spot in the world for downloads.
The law requires TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the app to a foreign owner or face a ban from operating in America, TikTok's biggest market.
The move comes amid growing concerns from Western countries about the app's ties to Chinese authorities, and as it not only keeps users up late into the night due to viral content, but also causes insomnia among politicians.
Their fears are particularly related to the potential misuse of user data by the Chinese authorities, which would pose a risk to national security.
Not only the United States of America, but also other countries, including Britain, France and Australia, have started to introduce certain restrictions on the use of this application.
China's fierce reaction
China today slammed members of the US House of Representatives for considering a bill that insists on selling TikTok, claiming there is no evidence the platform poses a threat.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Congress's treatment of Chinese companies "undermines fair competition and investment, and will ultimately affect the United States itself," The Washington Post reported.
"Although the US never found evidence that TikTok posed a threat to US national security, they never stopped pursuing it," he said.
President Joe Biden said he would sign the sale into law if it came to pass, while his predecessor in the White House and presidential candidate in the November election, Donald Trump, pointed out that a ban on TikTok would raise the profile of Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
