The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday unanimously advanced a measure that would require Chinese-owned ByteDance Ltd. to divest its U.S. subsidiary that operates the popular TikTok app within six months or face a nationwide ban.
The measure was introduced about 48 hours before the 50-0 vote, an extremely compressed timeline following lawmakers’ classified briefing last week with U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials that led the committee to fast track the measure.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Thursday TikTok and its CEO, Shou Zi Chew, had lied to Congress about the U.S. company’s ties to its Chinese parent ByteDance and “the level of access CCP has to our data,” referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
