Elon Musk slams US TikTok ban

Tesla owner Elon Musk has slammed the United States government for banning social media app TikTok, citing a violation of freedom of speech, Barron's reported.

On Saturday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill by 360-58, forcing TikTok to either divest from its parent company, ByteDance, or be banned from the American market.

The bill has now been passed to the Senate, which will vote next week. US President Joe Biden has reportedly confirmed that he will be signing the legislation.

According to Texas Republican Representative Michael McCaul, who is also the author of the bill, "This bill protects Americans and especially America’s children from the malign influence of Chinese propaganda on the app TikTok. This app is a spy balloon on Americans’ phones."

Musk, rejecting the bill, wrote on X: "TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform, doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression."

A number of replies to Musk's comment on X expressed concern that a TikTok ban would set a precedent that could be used to target other social media and messaging services.

Joe Biden had reportedly reiterated his concerns about TikTok during a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in early April.