Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Syrian Rejal al-Karamah (Men of Dignity) movement: What happened was a dangerous escalation that threatens civil peace and undermines the trust that authorities have worked hard to establish.
Rejal al-Karamah (Men of Dignity) movement: We condemn in the strongest terms the brutal attack on the city of Sweida and Jabal al-Arab by the Damascus government.
Maduro: We reaffirm that Palestine has the right to exist, resist, and live freely in a fully sovereign state with East al-Quds as its capital.
Maduro: Every bomb dropped on a Palestinian hospital, school, or home not only kills innocent lives but also destroys the foundations of world peace.
Maduro: What we are witnessing today in Gaza and throughout Palestine is not a conflict between equal parties, but rather a systematic plan to destroy a people and eradicate their identity.
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro at the Bogota summit: We raise our voices firmly outraged at the world's silence in the face of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians.
Syria: Sources to Al Mayadeen: Israeli airstrikes target supply lines of military factions affiliated with the Syrian Interim Ministry of Defense outside Sweida and around Daraa.
Al-Saadi: There were concerns that Lahham would be placed under administrative detention.
Al-Saadi: The Israeli occupation authorities could not prove any allegations leveled against Nasser Lahham.
Lawyer Oussama al-Saadi: The oppressive Israeli measures of delaying Lahham's release had vengeful motives.

Senate passes bill banning TikTok if parent company does not sell it

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: News websites
  • 24 Apr 2024 09:07
3 Min Read

The bill banning TikTok now makes its way to US President Joe Biden's desk for the final decision.

  • x
  • A TikTok content creator, speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol, in Washington on April 23, 2024
    A TikTok content creator speaks to reporters outside the US Capitol, in Washington on April 23, 2024. (AP)

On Tuesday, the Senate voted to pass a bill that will either ban TikTok or force a sale of the app, giving its China-based parent company ByteDance up to one year to divest its crown jewel before being banned from US app stores.

The bill passed in the House on Saturday with 79 senators voting in favor and 18 against, by a margin of 360 to 58, as part of a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan, and "Israel." It is now up to US President Joe Biden to make the final decision, noting that he previously said he would sign the legislation.

What does the new law entail? 

According to the new law, ByteDance has one year to sell TikTok to a US-based company, or the app will be banned in the United States. However, TikTok's head of public policy for the Americans, Michael Beckerman, clarified that the company would fight the legislation in court. That said, if the federal law goes into effect without being blocked, Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store would be required to stop offering the app for download. 

“At the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge,” Beckerman wrote in the memo, first reported by tech news website The Information. Beckerman claimed that the bill violated the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech.

Related News

Rutte: Secondary tariffs on Russia would impact China, India, Brazil

US urges 'Israel' to halt Syria airstrikes, Tel Aviv pledges to stop

“We’ll continue to fight, as this legislation is a clear violation of the first amendment rights of the 170 million Americans on TikTok,” he wrote.

Why is the US banning TikTok? 

Republican Montana Sen. Josh Hawley asked the Biden administration on November 8 last year to ban TikTok because of its content about the war on Gaza, which he claims favors pro-Palestinian voices. 

The request was sent to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) with the authority to block foreign involvement in corporations and markets on certain national security grounds. 

In it, Hawley wrote that the war is a “crucial test case” for the app's influence as a media organization and source of news as he expressed concern about what he referred to as “the ubiquity of anti-Israel content.”

Could it be to ensure that the 2024 US elections are not influenced? 

From another perspective, during a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing on March 13, Avril Haines, the US' director of national intelligence, claimed that China might leverage the social media app to impact the 2024 US elections.

In response to a question from Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi regarding whether China's ruling Communist Party (CCP) would use TikTok to influence the elections, Haines stated, "We cannot dismiss the possibility that the CCP would utilize it."

Lawmakers expressed concerns that the Chinese government could access user data or influence what content the users see, adding that they could be trying to "exacerbate political divisions within the United States".

  • United States
  • China
  • ByteDance
  • TikTok

Most Read

Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

  • Politics
  • 9 Jul 2025
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after an Iranian attack at the al Udeid Airbase outside of Doha, Qatar, June 25, 2025 (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Satellite images show Iran attack damaged US comms dome in Qatari base

  • Politics
  • 11 Jul 2025
An Israeli soldier abandons an excavator during an ambush by al-Qassam Brigades. Arabic text reads "The moment the soldier fled", July, 10, 2025 (Al Qassam Military Media)

Israeli media rue al-Qassam footage, alarmed by fighters among troops

  • Politics
  • 11 Jul 2025
Ukraine’s Corporate Carve-Up Collapses?

Ukraine’s Corporate Carve-Up Collapses?

  • Analysis
  • 11 Jul 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Syrian government forces deploy at the Mazraa village on the outskirts of city of Sweida, where clashes erupted between Bedouin clans and Druze factions, southern Syria, Monday, July 14, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Gulf-backed negotiations underway in Syria's Sweida to end clashes

UN: 798 Palestinians killed while trying to reach aid in Gaza
Palestine

UN: 798 Palestinians killed while trying to reach aid in Gaza

A damaged car is seen at a field that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Nabi Sheet village, in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, Wednesday, August 21, 2024 (AP)
Politics

Hezbollah condemns Israeli Bekaa massacre, urges action from Lebanon

Palestinians walk next to the closed humanitarian aid distribution center of UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Israeli regime cuts electricity, water supplies to UNRWA Gaza offices

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS