Washington — A invoice that might result in a ban of TikTok within the U.S. sailed by the Home with speedy pace on Wednesday, however is dealing with headwinds within the slower-moving Senate, the place earlier efforts to limit the favored app have stalled. 

The Home on Wednesday overwhelmingly handed the invoice, often known as the Defending People from Overseas Adversary Managed Purposes Act, in a vote of 352 to 65. The laws would require TikTok’s dad or mum firm, the Beijing-based ByteDance, to promote TikTok inside six months to take care of entry to U.S. web-hosting providers and app shops. 

The bipartisan laws rapidly gained momentum within the Home, unanimously advancing out of the Home Power and Commerce Committee final week. However the invoice has additionally confronted a flood of backlash from TikTok’s American customers, in addition to criticism from lawmakers who say it runs afoul of the First Modification. 

Legislators on either side of the aisle have lengthy warned of the dangers TikTok poses to nationwide safety, saying the Chinese language authorities may use the short-form video app to spy on People, unfold misinformation or sow division. 

“The issue will not be TikTok or the movies,” Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the highest Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated Monday throughout a listening to on worldwide threats. “The issue is the algorithm that powers it’s managed by an organization in China that should do regardless of the Chinese language Communist Get together tells them to do.” 

The TikTok invoice within the Senate

Regardless of broad settlement concerning the dangers, senators do not seem like in a rush to ship the Home TikTok invoice to President Biden, who has vowed to signal it. 

Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, stated he would vote for the laws however predicted that the Senate is unlikely to take motion quickly.

“It is laborious for me to think about that it will be actual quick. We do not do issues quick. We’re designed to not do issues quick, so I’d suppose months,” he advised reporters when requested concerning the timeline within the higher chamber.

Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, denounced the “hysteria” round TikTok and stated the invoice is “inconsistent” with the First Modification. His opposition means the Senate must spend helpful flooring time on it. 

Majority Chief Chuck Schumer has been noncommittal about bringing it up for a vote. In a one-line assertion after its passage within the Home, the New York Democrat stated the Senate “will overview the laws when it comes over from the Home.” Schumer additionally stated this week he would seek the advice of with related committee leaders “to see what their views can be.” 

In a serious endorsement after the Home vote, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated the invoice now has his help. He expressed concern earlier this week about singling out ByteDance and TikTok. 

Warner and Rubio, who mentioned the problem on “Face the Nation” over the weekend, stated in a press release Wednesday that they have been “inspired by right this moment’s robust bipartisan vote within the Home of Representatives, and stay up for working collectively to get this invoice handed by the Senate and signed into regulation.” 

Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, may decide its destiny because the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee. A bipartisan invoice often known as the RESTRICT Act, which might have given Commerce Division authority to ban or limit know-how coming from U.S. adversaries, has been caught within the mud since its referral to the committee final yr. 

An announcement from Cantwell on Wednesday advised the Home invoice may find yourself going the identical route. 

“I will likely be speaking to my Senate and Home colleagues to attempt to discover a path ahead that’s constitutional and protects civil liberties,” she stated. 

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, stated Tuesday he was involved concerning the invoice’s constitutionality and hadn’t reached a call about whether or not TikTok ought to be banned.

“I believe it is time for them to make a transparent break with China when it comes to the possession and administration of this firm,” stated Durbin, who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Total, the Senate’s response to the Home invoice has been combined. 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, stated “requiring divestment is completely well-merited.” 

“The Chinese language are gathering data, doing surveillance and making use of TikTok for his or her nationwide safety functions, and we ought to withstand it in a means that the Home invoice does,” he stated Tuesday. 

On Monday, Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, stated, “I am undecided that that is the reply,” however known as TikTok “a severe nationwide safety drawback.” He indicated that the invoice as at the moment written might not eradicate the menace. 

“It is sophisticated as a result of the Chinese language Communist Get together could be very completed at enjoying whack-a-mole,” he stated. “For instance, you’ll be able to eradicate TikTok, however they will open it up tomorrow, TokTik, no matter you need to name it.” 

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri stated Tuesday he would “completely” help it, however was uncertain it will get a flooring vote. 

“I hope it’s going to get a vote on the Senate flooring,” he stated. “However, as I’ve lengthy predicted, it sounds to me now prefer it’s not going to.” 

A TikTok spokesperson stated after the Home vote that the corporate was “hopeful that the Senate will take into account the information, hearken to their constituents, and understand the impression on the economic system, 7 million small companies, and the 170 million People who use our service.” 

Alan He and Alejandro Alvarez contributed reporting.