House passes bill that could lead to US ban of TikTok

China said Wednesday that banning TikTok would backfire on the US.

The comments by China’s foreign ministry came hours before a House vote on legislation that would force Tiktok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the short video platform or face being banned in the US, where it boasts over 170 million users.

Lawmakers who want to see the bill passed argue it poses a national security threat because China could use its intelligence laws against ByteDance and force it to hand over US user data.

Wang accused the US of “resorting to acts of bullying” when it could not succeed in fair competitions, saying such practice would disrupt market operations, undermine investor confidence and sabotage the global economic and trade order.

As House lawmakers prepared to vote, TikTok encouraged users to call their representatives with a full-screen notification about the legislation.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew has tried to schedule 11th-hour meetings with members of Congress. The company sent letters to two lawmakers on Monday challenging their characterizations of TikTok’s call-to-action campaign as “offensive” and “patently false.”

TikTok has said that banning the app would harm 5 million businesses that rely on the platform.

CNN's Brian Fung contributed reporting to this post.

The House will vote on a bill that could lead to a nationwide TikTok ban.

The bill would give the app's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, five months to sell TikTok. If not divested in time, it would be illegal for app stores to make it available for download — affecting 170 million American users.

Lawmakers who want to see the bill passed argue it poses a national security threat because China could use its intelligence laws against ByteDance and force it to hand over US user data.

Hours before the House vote, China warned the bill would backfire on the US.

Some House Democrats said Tuesday that banning TikTok will have negative consequences beyond the freedom of expression, and urged their colleagues to vote against the bill when it comes up for a vote on Wednesday.

Garcia said singling out TikTok wasn't fair – and that there is disinformation on all social media sites. The classified briefing that House members received Tuesday did nothing to change his mind, he said.

Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat, declared himself “not only am I a no on tomorrow’s TikTok ban bill, but I’m a hell no.”

Members were joined by TikTok creators, who have been pressuring Congress to vote against the bill.

Walking around Times Square one day in 2021, Teddy Siegel came to the sudden and horrifying realization that’s befallen many a New York City visitor: She had to pee, and there was nowhere to go.

Siegel began ducking into stores and shops, pleading with rising desperation to use their private restrooms, until finally finding a McDonald’s that let her use the restroom in exchange for making a purchase.

To remember the bathroom’s location for next time, Siegel took a video of the McDonald’s and saved it to her phone. Thus was born @Got2GoNYC, a TikTok account that aims to map all the publicly accessible toilets in the city.

Siegel’s brand of open, self-deprecating humor and her all-too-relatable outrage over a universal human experience has helped her reach more than 185,000 followers on the app and roughly half a million followers across multiple platforms.

Siegel says Congress is threatening to undermine her mission to document a real public health issue — the lack of available restrooms in public spaces — and to help people from around the world find relief fast.

Siegel is one of a diverse group of TikTok creators speaking out against what they see as an unreasonable restriction on their speech and economic activity, highlighting how some of the platform’s users are vocally at odds with legislation US officials say will block the risk of spying by the Chinese government.

Read more about how TikTok creators are reacting to the possible app ban.

While some countries – including the US, UK, New Zealand and Australia – have placed restrictions on the use of TikTok on devices issued to government workers, there is an outright ban on the app in a few other countries.

Many Western countries that have banned the Chinese-owned app from government employees phones argue it presents a security concern. They are worried China could use its national security laws to access the significant amount of personal information that TikTok, like most social media applications, collects from its US users.

The European Union launched a formal investigation last month into TikTok to determine whether the company is doing enough to protect minors on its platform as well as examine other suspected violations of the bloc’s landmark Digital Services Act.

“The opening of proceedings means that the (European) Commission will investigate TikTok’s functionalities, systems and policies related to certain suspected infringements. It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation,” a spokesperson for the bloc’s executive arm said in a statement.

The commission will assess whether the company, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, is complying with requirements for large social media platforms to mitigate the risk of users becoming addicted to their content and to safeguard minors’ privacy and safety.

TikTok’s age verification tools, aimed at preventing children from accessing inappropriate content, “may not be reasonable, proportionate and effective,” the European Commission said in a news release.

Social media companies operating in the EU are bound by obligations set out in the Digital Services Act, enacted in August, which places stricter requirements on large tech companies — defined as those with more than 45 million monthly users in the bloc — and seeks to protect people’s rights online. TikTok has almost 136 million monthly active users in the EU, according to the European Commission

TikTok escalated its feud with House lawmakers this week as it accused two Republicans and a Democrat of mischaracterizing the company's call-to-action campaign aimed at TikTok users, blasting certain claims by the members of Congress as "offensive" and "patently false."

TikTok also sought to turn the tables on lawmakers, highlighting how many of the TikTok users flooding House offices with phone calls are the members' own constituents.

TikTok's advocacy campaign features a full-screen notification within the TikTok app urging users to call their representatives and to oppose a bill that could force a nationwide ban. That legislation is slated for a House floor vote on Wednesday.

Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, the first Gen Z congressman, warned Tuesday that President Joe Biden potentially signing into law a bill that could ban TikTok wouldn’t be helpful as the president tries to court younger voters. 

He added that he believes Congress should address the potential risks posed by TikTok as well as other social media companies, but argued that the TikTok legislation is being “steamrolled” through Congress. 

“So I'm not sure this is the way to go. And the way it was steamrolled through Congress here,” Frost said. “A lot of my colleagues don't fully understand what they're voting on tomorrow, either. Okay, so I just think that this we're moving too fast and something that's going to have drastic impacts for people in this country.”

House Republicans are moving forward with a vote on the bill set for Wednesday despite Donald Trump having signaled some uneasiness over the legislation that would ban the app unless it part ways with its Chinese parent company.

House Republicans are pressing ahead with a Wednesday floor vote on legislation that would ban TikTok in the United States unless it part ways with its Chinese parent company, even as former President Donald Trump has signaled some uneasiness over the legislation.

House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers expressed confidence the measure would pass and downplayed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s opposition, noting he previously supported the idea of cracking down on the app.

Still, there’s been a behind-the-scenes effort by bill supporters to launch a counter-campaign in response to TikTok’s lobbying blitz against the legislation. That included scheduling a classified briefing for all House members at 1 p.m. Tuesday about the app’s potential national security threat.

McMorris Rodgers also gave a briefing on the bill during a House GOP whip meeting on Monday night, though leadership is not formally whipping the bill, which will come up under suspension of the rules – an expedited process that requires a two-thirds majority for passage.