TikTok Stunt Motivates Lawmakers to Take On the App

The Wall Street Journal reports TikTok Stunt Motivates Lawmakers to Take On the App

U.S. lawmakers are mounting their most serious attempt to effectively either ban popular video app TikTok or separate it from its Chinese owner, advancing a bill that has more political momentum than previous attempts.

As lawmakers prepared to consider the legislation on Thursday, users of the app, which is accessed by more than 170 million Americans, saw notifications urging them to complain to their House representative about the bill. Then the app let people call their representative with a few presses of buttons, fueling congressional concerns about TikTok.

TikTok's campaign quickly overwhelmed the phone lines of some congressional offices, which were bombarded with hang-ups and questions. It also illustrated how TikTok could mobilize an army of people and gather data to push user behavior, which some lawmakers say is the exact reason they don't want the company to have ties back to China.

"I think TikTok made our case for us today," said Rep. Bob Latta (R., Ohio), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce's panel on communications and technology. 

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously, 50-0, to advance the bill Thursday. It would essentially require TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to an American owner or effectively face a ban.