(NewsNation) — TikTok’s fate is in the hands of Congress as House lawmakers prepare to vote Wednesday on a bill that would ban the social media platform in the U.S. if the parent company doesn’t sell it.
House Republicans are confident the bill banning the social media giant will pass, saying ByteDance, the company that owns it, could share Americans’ information with the Chinese government. If it passes in the House, the bill will then move to the Senate for a thorough review before it is put to a vote.
Wednesday’s debate will begin around 9:15 a.m. ET, and the vote is expected to take place at 10 a.m. ET.
TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew was expected to visit the Capitol this week as part of the company’s pushback against the proposed bill.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert that a ban on the social media site would be a constitutional issue for 170 million users in the U.S.
“Well, there is this little sticking point, and it’s called the Constitution, the Bill of Rights,” Paul, who serves on the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations, said. “You can’t just pass a law and take someone’s property.”
Paul also warned that banning TikTok would also set a dangerous precedent, with the U.S. beating “the Chinese Communists by becoming (like) Chinese authoritarians and banning it in our country.”
For years, lawmakers and government officials in Washington have said TikTok, which has over 150 million active users in the U.S., poses national security concerns, citing the Chinese government’s close relationship with owner ByteDance and potential to access private data or conduct “influence operations.”
While the move to ban the app has bipartisan support, some Republicans have come out recently against it, most notably former President Donald Trump. He said Monday on CNBC that he opposed the ban on the grounds it would strengthen Facebook, which he called an “enemy of the people.”
Trump’s comments came as a surprise, given it was his administration that initially attempted to ban TikTok in 2020.
Republicans backing the bill largely dismissed concerns about Trump’s backlash, which has the potential to sway the party from passing the bill.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., the chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the lead co-sponsor of the bill, said there is a “great bipartisan core” behind it.
“The bill doesn’t involve any First Amendment concerns. It’s not about content. It’s not about censorship. It’s about foreign ownership of, foreign adversary ownership of social media applications,” Gallagher said.
But Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., has slammed the bill, saying it puts limits on free speech and that the process is being rushed.
Last week, TikTok blocked users from entering the app unless they called their congressional representative. The move appeared to backfire on TikTok, as more members of Congress decided to support the measure.
The bill needs a two-thirds majority to pass in the House. Its fate in the Senate, however, remains unclear. President Joe Biden said Friday he would sign the bill if it passes Congress.
