TikTok CEO challenged Joe Biden and Congress after federal officials pushed legislation that could ban his app in the US
On Wednesday, President Biden signed a law forcing TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest the social media platform within a year or face a ban in the US.
But shortly after the potential ban was signed into law, TikTok CEO Shou Chew posted a video on the social media app in which he defiantly claimed, “Rest assured, we’re not going anywhere.”
“As you may have heard, Congress passed a bill signed by the President aimed at banning TikTok in the United States,” Chew said.
“That will take TikTok away from you and from 170 million Americans who find community and connection on our platform.”
‘Make no mistake, this is a ban. A ban on TikTok and a ban on you and your voice.’
President Joe Biden spoke after signing the potential TikTok ban, saying the law will make the US and the world safer
‘Politicians may say differently, but don’t get confused. Many who sponsored the bill admit that a TikTok ban is the ultimate goal.”
Chew denounced the new law, claiming that “the facts and the Constitution are on our side.”
In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson told DailyMail.com that they will take the law to court.
“This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban and we will challenge it in court. We believe that the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and that we will ultimately prevail.”
But the House China Select Committee has said that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials through ByteDance are using TikTok to spy on the locations of its US users and dictate the algorithm to carry out influence campaigns, making it a threat to national security is becoming.
The committee – consisting of almost as many Republicans as Democrats – spent a year considering the dangers of the app and the consequences of banning it in the US.
Ultimately, lawmakers came to a consensus that TikTok’s dangers were too great, and they moved quickly to spin it off from Chinese parent company ByteDance.
The first iteration of the bill specifically mentioned ByteDance and TikTok as applications controlled by foreign adversaries.
“The Chinese Communist Party and its leader Xi Jinping have their hands deep in the inner workings of the company,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., the chairman of the China Select Committee, warned in early March.
It was quickly passed by the House of Representatives just over a week after it was introduced, but later ran into roadblocks in the Senate.
The Senate wanted to extend the period that ByteDance had to divest from 165 days.
That’s why the House amended the bill slightly and passed a new version on Saturday.
On Tuesday evening, the Senate voted to pass that bill 79-18.
That version of the legislation, which Biden signed into law on Wednesday, gives ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok and a possible three-month extension if a sale is in progress.
“This is a good day for America. It’s a good day for Europe,” Biden said after signing the law. “It’s going to make America safer. It will make the world a safer place.’
This week, FBI Director Christopher Wray also warned about the app’s threats.
“TikTok represents a national security problem for us. The reason I say this is TikTok’s parent company is a responsibility of the Chinese government,” Wray told NBC Nightly News’ Lester Holt.
The FBI director argued that TikTok users need to become aware of “the power, the access, the capabilities and the control that TikTok has,” and how that translates not only to ByteDance, but also to the “Chinese intelligence services.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that TikTok poses a “national security problem,” especially because of the data farming capabilities of its China-based parent company
TikTok users and advocates held demonstrations on Capitol Hill last month, advocating for lawmakers to vote against the potential ban
The CEO’s ominous warning is the latest aggressive tactic from the company, which has spent months trying to lobby against the bill that became law on Wednesday.
Previously, TikTok sent notifications to its users and suggested that they call their lawmakers to argue against the bill. This flooded the phone lines on Capitol Hill with thousands of calls.
Some callers even made death threats against lawmakers, with one threatening to shoot Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., before promising to dismember him.
“Okay, listen. If you ban TikTok, I will find you and shoot you,” a child’s voice can be heard between giggles in a recording of the call to Tillis’ office.
“That’s people’s job and that’s my only entertainment,” the call continued. “Anyway, I’ll shoot you, find you, and cut you up.”
Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told DailyMail.com: “China’s position on this issue is clear. This bill puts the U.S. on the wrong side of the principles of fair competition and international trade rules.”
TikTok CEO Shou Chew has said the bill would ban the app, indicating ByteDance has no intention of parting with the popular video-sharing platform.
“If ‘national security’ can be abused to take down competing companies from other countries, there would be no fairness or justice at all.”
“It’s pure robber logic to take all the good things they have from others.”
“The way the US has handled TikTok allows the world to see clearly whether the US ‘rules’ and ‘order’ serves the entire world or just the US.”