Joe Biden plans to ban TikTok ahead of US elections — but why?

Joe Biden, the President of the United States, has validated a bipartisan bill which could result in the ban of the popular social media application TikTok in the country.

The move will take place if the app is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance, according to Interesting Engineering.

"Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" is the name of the bill, which was passed without nay opposition by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday.

The main objective of this bill is to protect Americans from the possible spying risks of foreign enemies like China.

“If they pass it, I’ll sign it,” Biden told reporters on Friday.

If ByteDance will not be able to give TikTok to a US entity in 165 days or about five and a half months, then the bill will be put in action.

If ByteDance will not act in accordance, then TikTok will be banned from US app stores and web hosting services, which means that 170 million American users will lose access to it.

In addition to TikTok, other Chinese apps like WeChat are also part of the bill.

“Today, we will take the first step in creating long-overdue laws to protect Americans from the threat posed by apps controlled by our adversaries, and to send a very strong message that the US will always stand up for our values and freedom,” said Rep Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash), the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Rep Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the committee’s ranking member, said:  “I take the concerns raised by the intelligence community this morning very seriously." 

“They have asked Congress to give them more authority to act in these narrowly defined situations, and I believe that this bill will do that,” he added.