TMTPost -- TikTok warned that a potential ban on the popular short video app would trample free speech in the United States after a bill that forces its parent ByteDance to divest.

Credit：Xinhua News Agency

"It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24bn to the US economy annually," TikTok said in a statement Sunday.

The warning was voiced a day after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act, which would ByteDance up to a year to divest its U.S. assets including TikTok, otherwise the Chinese tech giant would face a ban on its app being available in U.S. app stores or on U.S. web hosting services. The requirement of the latest House Bill suggested the deadline of TikTok sales was extended by six months as a bill the House passed last month would have allowed.

A standalone bill with a six-month selling deadline was passed in the House in March by an overwhelming bipartisan vote as both Democrats and Republicans voiced national security concerns about the application's owner, the Chinese technology firm ByteDance. The approved version of the bill on Saturday would extend the timeframe for TikTok to find a new owner to 270 days, compared to the approximately six months stipulated in previous versions of the legislation. Additionally, the bill grants the White House the authority to prolong this deadline by another 90 days if the president deems that progress has been made towards a sale.

THe modified bill, passed by a 360-58 vote, now goes to the Senate where it could be taken up for a vote in the next days. President Joe Biden has previously said he would sign the legislation on TikTok into law. "This bill is important, we welcome this step," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters last month after the U.S. House approved the TikTok Divestiture Bill by a an overwhelming vote of 352 to 65. But she said the White House doesn't see the bill as a ban on TikTok but rather ensuring its "ownership isn't in the hands of those who may do us harm. This is about our national security, obviously," according to Jean-Pierre.

Many U.S. lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties and the Biden administration say TikTok poses national security risks because China could compel the company to share the data of its 170 million U.S. users. TikTok could be used as a propaganda tool by the Chinese government and enables the government to scrape 170 million Americans’ personal data, which poses “a national security risk”, Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CBS News on Sunday. TikTok previously insisted it has never shared U.S. data and never would. It has said ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country.

China will do whatever it takes to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, He Yadong, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said after the U.S. House vote last month. The U.S. side should earnestly respect the market economy and the principle of fair competition, cease unjust suppression of foreign companies and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for enterprises from all countries, He commented at a regular press conference last month.