Hours after the Home passed a bill that might ban TikTok in the US, Shou Chew, the corporate’s CEO urged customers to “shield your constitutional rights.” Chew additionally implied that TikTok would mount a authorized problem if the invoice is handed into legislation.
“We won’t cease preventing and advocating for you,” Chew stated in a video posted to X. “We are going to proceed to do all we are able to together with exercising our authorized rights to guard this superb platform that we now have constructed with you.” He additionally requested TikTok customers within the US to share their tales with mates, households, and senators. “This laws, if handed into legislation, will result in a ban of TikTok in the US,” Chew stated. “Even the invoice’s sponsors admit that’s their aim.”
The invoice, generally known as the “Defending People from Overseas Adversary Managed Purposes Act” handed the Home on Wednesday with bipartisan assist simply days after it was launched. Ought to the invoice go into legislation, it could drive TikTok’s father or mother firm ByteDance, a Chinese language company, to promote TikTok to a US firm inside six months, or be banned from US app shops and internet hosting providers. TikTok has challenged state-level bans prior to now. Final yr, TikTok sued Montana, which banned the app within the state. A federal choose temporarily blocked that ban in November earlier than it went into impact.
Final week, TikTok sent push notifications to the app’s greater than 170 million customers within the US urging them to name their representatives concerning the potential ban. “Converse up now — earlier than your authorities strips 170 million People of their Constitutional proper to free expression,” the notification stated. The wave of notifications reportedly led to Home staffers being inundated with calls from excessive schoolers asking what a Congressman is. Lawmakers criticized the corporate they perceived as attempting to “intrude” with the legislative course of.
In his attraction, Chew stated that banning TikTok would give “extra energy to a handful of different social media firms.” Former President Donald Trump, who as soon as tried to drive ByteDance to promote TikTok within the US, just lately expressed an identical sentiment, claiming that banning TikTok would strengthen Meta whose platform, Reels, competes with TikTok immediately. Chew additionally added that taking TikTok away would additionally damage a whole bunch of 1000’s of American jobs, creators, and small companies.
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