The House voted Wednesday to pass legislation that could ban TikTok in the United States as Republicans and Democrats alike sound the alarm that the popular video-sharing app, owned by ByteDance, is a national security threat.

The vote was 352-65, with one member, Jasmine Crockett, voting present. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain fate and there appears to be less urgency to act. Fifty Democrats and 15 Republicans voted against the bill. Among them were progressives as well as conservatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who lamented that she had previously been banned from social media.

The top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Jim Himes of Connecticut, was a surprising no vote. He also cited free speech issues with the bill.

TikTok has mounted an aggressive lobbying campaign to kill the legislation, arguing that it would violate the First Amendment rights of its 170 million U.S. users and harm thousands of small businesses that rely on it. “This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: it’s a ban,” the company said on X.

Paul Tran, who, with his wife, has a skin care company called Love and Pebble, protested at a pro-TikTok rally outside the Capitol on Tuesday, with a message for members: “You will be destroying small businesses like us; this is our livelihood. We’ve created success.”

He said their business nearly shut down last year until TikTok Shop came along and “totally exploded our business.” Now 90% of their business comes from the app, he said. “If you pass this bill,” Tran said, “you will be destroying the American dream that we really believe in.”

Despite that push, the bill sailed through the House, raising pressure on the Democratic-led Senate to act. President Joe Biden, whose 2024 campaign joined TikTok last month, has said that if the bill reaches his desk, he will sign it into law.

Its backers say it’s wrong to call the legislation an outright ban. Dubbed the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the bill would create a process for the president — through the FBI and intelligence agencies — to designate certain social media applications under the control of foreign adversaries as national security threats.

Once an app was deemed a risk, it would be banned from online app stores and web-hosting services unless it severed ties with entities under control of the foreign adversary within 180 days of the designation. That means TikTok, which FBI Director Christopher Wray has testified poses a risk to national security, could face a ban unless ByteDance acted quickly to divest it.(SD-Agencies)

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【引爆】yǐnbào explode cause to move with sudden speed and force

【剥离】bōlí divest rid oneself of something

美众议院周三投票通过一项法案，或导致TikTok在该国被禁，共和党和民主党都警告说，字节跳动旗下的这款热门视频分享应用威胁到国家安全。

表决结果为 352票赞成、65票反对，其中茉莉•克罗克特投了弃权票。该法案将提交参议院，是否能通过还不确定，该院也并不急于表态。

50名民主党人和15名共和党人对该法案投了反对票。其中既有进步人士，也有像马乔里•泰勒•格林这样的保守派，她对自己此前被某社交媒体平台禁号表示遗憾。情报委员会的民主党大佬、来自康涅狄格州的吉姆•海姆斯出人意料地投了反对票。他认为该法案涉及言论自由。

TikTok发起了一场声势浩大的游说活动来阻止这项立法，认为它将侵犯其1.7亿美国用户的第一修正案权利（信仰和言论自由），并损害数以千计依赖该平台的小企业。该公司在 X 上说：“整个过程是秘密进行的，法案被强行通过的目的只有一个：这是要禁掉TikTok。”

保罗•特兰和妻子一起经营着一家名为Love and Pebble的护肤品公司，周二参加了国会大厦外举行的抗议集会来支持TikTok，他表示：“法案将摧毁我们这种小本生意，毁掉我们的生计，我们原本生意不错。”特兰说，去年公司差点儿倒闭，幸亏在TikTok开店“彻底引爆了业务”，现在公司90%的业务都来自这款应用。他说：“如果通过这项法案，你们将摧毁我们的美国梦。”

尽管如此，该法案还是在众议院顺利通过，把压力甩给了给民主党领导的参议院。美国总统乔•拜登的竞选团队上月开通了TikTok账号，不过拜登表示，如果法案提交到他手里，他就会签署令其生效。

支持者称，将该法案等同于禁令是不对的。该法案被称为《保护美国人免受外国对手控制应用程序侵害法》，法案为总统设立了一个框架，通过联邦调查局和其他情报机构的调查，可以指认某些外国对手控制的社交媒体应用程序威胁国家安全。

一旦某款应用被视为风险应用，将被应用商店下架并禁止在网络端使用，除非在被指认后的 180天内切断与外国控制实体的联系。因为联邦调查局局长克里斯托弗•雷已指认TikTok威胁美国国家安全，除非字节跳动迅速采取行动将其剥离，该应用或将在美国被禁。

(Translated by Debra)