[March 15, AFP]The US House of Representatives passed a bill on the 13th that would ban the use of the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok in the US. In response, app users have voiced their opposition, questioning common sense.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would ban TikTok from being used in the U.S. unless its Chinese parent company spins off its U.S. business due to suspected ties to the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok has categorically denied any claims that it has any ties to the Chinese government.

A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly criticized the bill’s passage in the House of Representatives, saying it violates free competition and international economic and trade rules, calling it “the logic of bandits.”

The bill will now be debated in the Senate. US President Joe Biden has said he will sign the bill if it passes both houses of Congress.

Ariela Elm, a TikTok videographer with nearly 290,000 followers, told AFP outside the White House in Washington, D.C., “If Congress points out… If this is really the problem, then we must ask the same question about Elon Musk of X (formerly Twitter), who has the power to change American politics with just a whim.”

Stephen King, who uses the app to share life-related information, said that if TikTok were to be banned in the United States, millions of people, from politicians to entrepreneurs to teenagers, would be affected. Speak deaf. King has 6.8 million followers.

TikToker Nathan Espinoza, who just turned 18 this year, said he was “hugely shocked” to learn that members of Congress who supported the bill would face the ire of users throughout future elections. I spoke deaf. “I am old enough to vote starting this year. Many of my generation are against this bill.”

On the other hand, some TikTok users have voiced their support for the bill, not only from a national security perspective but also because it could potentially protect individual users. (c)AFP