US TikTok Ban: What You Need to Know

By Dawson Beard, Skyline Desk Chief

ALPINE - To the dismay of social media influencers and young adult media consumers across the nation, TikTok may finally be meeting its end in the United States as the House of Representatives has voted to ban the app in a decisive 352-65 vote. 

The ban of the Chinese-owned social media application has been a topic of discussion in D.C. and state governments for the last four years. In fact, I covered this exact topic in an editorial last year, and other Skyline reporters have covered it as well. 

Former President Donald Trump was one of the first to acknowledge TikTok’s possible threat to national security and public privacy in 2020, despite his seemingly cozy relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and he requested that Congress act on the matter. But no definitive action was taken at the time. 

Before the most recent House vote, the federal government took the first major step in banning TikTok with the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act,” which was signed into law by President Biden in 2022. State governments followed suit with over 30 states, including Texas, taking action to lessen TikTok’s access to US citizens’ personal data by banning the use of the application on government issued devices. Some states went as far as banning the app outright.  

This vote by the House of Representatives is now the most significant federal action taken towards banning TikTok since 2022, but it is up to the United States Senate to put the final nail in TikTok's coffin. Once passed, the bill will then be sent to the President’s desk for him to sign into law. President Biden has already said that if the bill passes, he will sign it. 

However, the fate of TikTok is currently in limbo as the Senate cannot seem to decide how to proceed. The top two lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Democrat Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, released a joint statement praising the House bill and urging the Senate to act, while some lawmakers want to hold hearings before putting the ban up for a vote. There is also consideration of the level of importance of the bill, as there may be more pressing matters to address first.