TikTok sees US bill that could ban the social media app as an ‘existential threat’

NPR Technology Correspondent Bobby Allyn says TikTok has deployed its lobbyist to Washington to try to “bend the ear” of US Senators because they see a bill that could ban the app as an “existential threat”. The United States House of Representatives has passed a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to sell its stake in the US version of the app or see it banned. The bill will now head to the Senate for a vote, where it faces an uncertain path. “While it passed overwhelmingly in the House, it’s less so in the Senate,” Mr Allyn told Sky News Australia. “There’s a number of Republicans who are worried about this bill from a civil libertarian standpoint.”