Today, after the adoption of a law in the US House of Representatives, which foresees the ban of Tik Tok in the name of national security, China condemned the “violent methods” of Washington. Yesterday, the House of Representatives adopted a law that foresees a ban on TikTok in the United States if the social network does not cut ties with the founding company ByteDance, but also with China.
“If so-called national security rationales can be used to arbitrarily stifle successful companies from other countries, then there is no longer any equality or justice,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
“These are bandit methods”
“When someone sees a good thing that another person has and wants to appropriate it, then it is definitely about violent, bandit methods,” he added. Beijing is not hiding its anger today after the House of Representatives passed a law that threatens to ban the social network if it does not cut all ties with China.
This is an unfavorable development for the platform, which until a few days ago did not appear to be in danger, despite the fact that the vote in the Senate remains uncertain.
“The text voted in the US House of Representatives is contrary to the principles of fair market competition and international rules related to economy and trade,” Wang warned, adding that the US must stop pressuring and unfairly stifling foreign companies in its market.
“China will take all necessary measures”
He also said that China would take “all necessary measures” to defend its companies. Before the official Chinese reaction, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew called on the app’s 170 million users in the US to react.
“Make yourself heard. We will not stop defending you and will continue to do everything in our power, including legal means, to protect the great platform we developed with you,” Shou wrote on X.
“You’re putting 300,000 US jobs at risk”
He also estimated that the law puts “300,000 jobs” in the US at risk. “This bill has a predetermined outcome, which is a total ban on TikTok in the United States. The government is trying to deprive 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to freedom of expression,” the company said.
The bill would have given ByteDance 165 days to divest itself of ownership of TikTok. If it didn’t, app stores operated by Apple, Alphabet’s Google and others would not be able to legally offer TikTok or provide web hosting services to apps controlled by ByteDance.
President Joe Biden said last week that he would sign the law, which was unanimously approved by a congressional committee. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump tried to ban Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat, but was blocked by the courts.
On Monday, he agreed that TikTok was a threat to national security, but stressed that banning the popular app would only strengthen other social networks. “There’s a lot of bad, but there’s a lot of good about TikTok,” Trump said.
Biden’s presidential campaign joined TikTok last month, but Trump’s did not, N1 writes.
