President Joe Biden has enacted legislation mandating the divestment of TikTok by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, within nine months.
The Next Edition reports that failure to comply will result in a ban of the social media app in the United States.
Biden signed the bill attached to the $95 billion foreign aid package Congress approved this week that will deliver more funding to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, on Wednesday.
The legislation, which targets the popular video-sharing app due to concerns over national security and data privacy, marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing scrutiny of Chinese technology companies by the U.S. government.
President Biden’s signature ratifies the congressional mandate, reinforcing the government’s stance on protecting national security against potential foreign interference.
TikTok, which has been at the center of controversy over its data handling practices, responded promptly to the new legislation.
A spokesperson for TikTok, Alex Haurek, criticized the law, deeming it “unconstitutional” and announced plans to contest it legally.
“We will challenge it in court,” Haurek asserted, signaling the start of a potential legal showdown similar to the one that took place under former President Donald Trump’s administration.
In 2020, TikTok successfully contested President Trump’s executive order, which sought to force the sale of the app by prohibiting any U.S.-based transactions with ByteDance unless the company relinquished ownership of TikTok.
The app’s legal victory at that time had temporarily alleviated pressures to divest.
