Jessica Yellin Instagram – CONGRESS V CREATORS Americans united today to fight a common enemy — the leaders who would ban TikTok. That’s the dramatic version. The video includes just some of the TikTok’ers outraged about Congress’ action. Here’s the less dramatic version: Today a subcommittee within the US House of Representatives advanced a bill that would require TikTok’s owner, Bytedance, to sell to a US company within 180 days of the bill’s passage. If Bytedance failed to do so, under the bill the app would not be available for download. (Note: Those who already have it on their phones could continue using it but wouldn’t be able to download updates in the US.) The bill would also allow the executive branch to bar use of an app if it’s deemed a threat to national security — under very limited circumstances. The reason? Many US lawmakers have come to believe that TikTok gives the Chinese government outsize influence with American audiences. They believe it allows an adversary nation to both gather enormous data on Americans, and push messages and ideas that could sway public opinion or manipulate American audiences to serve interests at odds with the US. I know that this is a sensitive subject and many of you love TikTok. It is also simply a fact that my own very senior national security sources have, for years, expressed this belief with me. For this reason, US national security officials, members of the US military and many others don’t use the app or download it on their phones. Efforts to force divestment of TikTok or shut down the app have been stalled in the US for years. But today, the measure passed a House committee with a unanimous bipartisan vote. The House Speaker has expressed support for it and it could come to a vote of the full House soon. It would still have to pass the Senate. What do you think of the effort to force divestment or shutdown TikTok?