The U.S. Senate set up a likely court showdown over the scope of TikTok's free speech protections under the U.S. Constitution when it approved a bill on Tuesday to ban the social media platform from app stores unless its Chinese owner sells it.
The US Congress will vote again regarding a bill forcing TikTok to divest or face a potential ban. The US House of Representatives is scheduled to vote once more on Saturday regarding a bill aimed at compelling TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or else face a nationwide prohibition, according to a report by AFP.
The US House of Representatives voted 352-65 on March 13 to give TikTok s ByteDance, about six months to divest the US assets of the short-video app, or face a ban.
The US Senate questioned the IRS regarding employees' non-compliance with the TikTok ban. US senators have reportedly questioned the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after evidence suggests the department's employees still access TikTok, a clear violation of the government's ban for the Bytedance-owned application on federal devices.
Montana s ban had been set to take effect January 1 but US District Judge Donald Molloy on November 30 issued a preliminary injunction to block the ban on the Chinese-owned app, saying Montana s law "violates the Constitution in more ways than one" and "oversteps state power."