The US House of Representatives’ approval of a bill to ban TikTok from app stores unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company has cemented the video-sharing platform as one of the biggest flashpoints in a wider US-China conflict and has ignited a debate about free speech and data security.
The overwhelming support for the bill has signalled widespread agreement in Washington that TikTok represents a threat to American national security while it is owned by ByteDance. The Chinese company has accused lawmakers of “jamming through” “secret” legislation to outright ban the app, and called on the Senate to reject the bill.
Here is what the vote means for TikTok and its 170mn users in the US.