The CEO of TikTok is vowing to battle any potential ban of the social media app, urging customers to “protect your constitutional rights” and promising to launch a authorized battle if the invoice that passed the House of Representatives Wednesday turns into legislation.
In a video posted to Twitter/X, Shou Chew urged customers to share their tales not solely with family and friends, however with senators as effectively. (The final time TikTok tried to mobilize its person base to foyer authorities officers, it backfired. Home officers had been inundated with calls from younger individuals, a lot of whom had been unable to vote, and lawmakers stated the episode was proof the corporate might rapidly cell customers to “interfere” with authorities actions.)
“This legislation, if signed into law, will lead to a ban of TikTok in the United States. Even the bill’s sponsors admit that’s their goal,” Chew stated within the video. “We know how important TikTok is to all of you. … Protect your constitutional rights. Make your voices heard. Love you all.”
Chew stated a ban on the platform would put 300,000 American jobs in danger and would give extra energy to rival social media corporations. And he vowed to make use of all means at his disposal to forestall a ban from being enacted.
“We will not stop fighting and advocating for you,” Chew stated within the video. “We will continue to do all we can including exercising our legal rights to protect this amazing platform that we have built with you.”
The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” handed the Home on Wednesday with widespread bipartisan help. Its destiny within the Senate is more questionable, although President Joe Biden has said he will sign the bill if it’s handed.
Donald Trump, who first referred to as for the sale of TikTok to a U.S. firm and instructed a ban over the last yr of his presidency, has lately reversed himself and echoed a few of Chew’s feedback, together with {that a} TikTok ban can be useful for Meta, an organization he has had points with for years.
