Virginia Congressional Delegation Supports U.S. House Vote to Effectively Ban TikTok

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that effectively bans TikTok unless the company splits from its Chinese owner ByteDance because of national security concerns.

The 352-65 vote occurred just a week after lawmakers introduced the bipartisan proposal and days after the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously advanced the legislation, an unusual speed for the 118th Congress.

The bill required a two-thirds majority because House leadership placed it on the floor under a fast-track procedure called suspension of the rules.

The bill, dubbed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, now heads to the Senate, where concerns over singling out a private company in legislation may slow momentum.

U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Virginia, a former intelligence officer who voted with the majority of the House to effectively ban TikTok, said the “Chinese Communist Party is capable of using the app to undermine democratic elections, weaponize propaganda, and stifle free speech across the globe.” She noted in a statement that the House’s vote to advance the bill is not an “outright ban,” but said that Congress forcing TikTok to divest from its parent company ByteDance is an effort to “protect the data of the American people and keep our country safe online.”

Following the U.S. House vote, Virginia Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott said in a statement that he had voted in favor of the measure. The House bill requires TikTok to disinvest from ByteDance within 180 days, said Scott, who added that Americans should be able to keep using the social media platform “without the associated risks of an app being owned and operated by a foreign adversary of the United States.”

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, and Marco Rubio, R-Florida, who co-chair the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, released a statement applauding the House’s action against TikTok.

“We are united in our concern about the national security threat posed by TikTok,” the senators said. “We were encouraged by today’s strong bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives, and look forward to working together to get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law.”

Ahead of the U.S. House vote, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares wrote an amicus brief on March 11 leading 18 other states in support of similar legislation in Montana calling for TikTok to divest from ByteDance. The brief noted that in 2023, TikTok “was the second most downloaded mobile application worldwide, generating 654 million downloads over the course of the year” and pointed to the app’s data collection practices and “addictive” impact on youth as causes for concern.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in December 2023 issued an executive order banning the use of TikiTok “on any government-issued devices, including state-issued cell phones, laptops, or other devices capable of connecting to the internet except for public safety purposes.”

Youngkin said the applications allow China and other foreign governments the chance to ” gain access to the information stored on mobile devices, including location services and browsing history,” a potential cybersecurity threat.

One state already has voted to ban TikTok. For Congress, it’s going to be much tougher.

President Joe Biden, whose administration had a hand in crafting the bill, is expected to sign the measure if the upper chamber approves it.

Despite broad support across the aisle, the legislation has been met by fierce opposition from TikTok users — totaling some 170 million in the U.S. — and from a coalition of young House lawmakers.

“Not only am I a ‘no’ on tomorrow’s TikTok ban bill, I’m a ‘Hell no,’” Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida said at a Tuesday press conference, questioning which companies are large enough to acquire TikTok. Frost is the youngest member of Congress at 27.

“Essentially what this bill is doing is setting this whole sale up to fail,” he said.

Users of the wildly popular social media platform flooded lawmakers’ offices with thousands of calls Thursday after the company sent a push notification warning that a ban could be imminent, an argument the company maintains.

Supporters from both parties refute that claim.

“The legislation before the Congress does not ban TikTok. It is designed to address legitimate national security and privacy concerns related to the Chinese Communist Party’s engagement with a frequently used social media platform,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday.

“If enacted, the bill would require divestiture by ByteDance and the sale of TikTok to an American company,” he continued.

At parent-focused event, Youngkin takes aim at social media’s ‘destructive influence’

Divestiture deadline set 

The bill gives TikTok 180 days to splinter from ByteDance and will make it unlawful for any American app store or web hosting company to distribute or maintain platforms controlled by designated U.S. adversaries.

The social media platform, 100% owned by ByteDance, has long been in the crosshairs of federal and state lawmakers, whom intelligence officials have warned of the possibility of China’s government accessing Americans’ data via the app.

Lawmakers passed legislation in December 2022 banning the app from most federal employee devices. The Montana Legislature banned the app last year, but the law remains tied up in court.

Former President Donald Trump issued an executive order in 2020 banning TikTok unless it broke from ByteDance. This week Trump reversed his position on the platform, telling CNBC that “without TikTok you’re going to make Facebook bigger.”

Some Republican lawmakers have fallen in line with Trump’s argument, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who said on the floor Wednesday before the vote she worries that Congress could open a “Pandora’s box” and target other platforms like X.

Greene said her “free speech” was “restored” when Elon Musk purchased Twitter and reinstated her account.

“This is really about controlling Americans’ data,” said Greene on the floor before the vote.

The bill’s original sponsor, Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, said from the floor that he wanted to clear up “misconceptions” of the bill ahead of the vote.

“It does not apply to American companies,” the chair of the House Select Committee on China said and later posted on X from his office’s account.

“It only applies to companies subject to the control of foreign adversaries defined by Congress. It says nothing about election interference and cannot be turned against any American social media platform. It does not impact websites in general. The only impacted sites are those associated with foreign adversary apps, such as TikTok.com.”

Mercury editor Samantha Willis contributed to this story.

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