On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives is predicted to vote on a invoice that may pressure TikTok’s proprietor, Bytedance, to dump the app or face an outright ban.

The invoice, referred to as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, was sponsored by a gaggle of practically two dozen Republicans and Democrats. It was launched final week and superior out of committee at lightning pace by a unanimous vote. The invoice would make it illegal for apps managed by corporations based mostly in adversarial nations—Bytedance is situated in China—to be distributed nationwide. If enacted, Bytedance can be required to dump TikTok if the corporate wished the app to stay out there within the US.

Congress has tried and failed to ban TikTok over the previous few years, however that is the closest it’s gotten to creating it a actuality. Still, the politics of a ban have by no means been hazier. While payments regulating US-based tech corporations have largely stalled out, this TikTok ban is on its technique to the ground.

In January, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign joined TikTok, regardless of the app’s alleged risks to national security. Still, Biden has mentioned that he’ll sign the bill if it makes it by way of the Senate. On the opposite hand, former president Donald Trump is pushing lawmakers towards the invoice though his administration tried to ban the app a number of instances. “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump posted to Truth Social last week. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”

Last yr, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified to the House Energy and Commerce Committee in his firm’s first look on Capitol Hill. Chew was grilled on quite a few points, together with baby security and the nationwide safety dangers TikTok is claimed to pose for American customers. Shortly after the listening to, Virginia senator Mark Warner introduced the RESTRICT Act, which might have allowed the secretary of commerce to bar overseas applied sciences and firms from working within the US on nationwide safety grounds. Support for that invoice waned over constitutional considerations that it could present the manager department an excessive amount of authority.

The present House Republican invoice tries to keep away from comparable constitutional issues. Specifically, it creates a course of for the invoice’s guidelines to use to different foreign-controlled corporations, regardless of its express naming of Bytedance. Companies would have 165 days to divest their apps earlier than being faraway from US app shops. In January, Chew testified for a second time with different Big Tech CEOs, like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, for a listening to on baby security.

Responding to the invoice, a TikTok spokesperson instructed WIRED, “This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States. The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression. This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.”