How a possible TikTok ban could play out in Congress

(WASHINGTON) — The House is set to vote Wednesday on a bipartisan bill that would ban the wildly popular social media app TikTok in the United States if its Chinese owners don’t sell the app.

While the legislation appears poised to pass in the House, its future is less certain in the Senate.

Intelligence officials from the FBI, Justice Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence are set to brief TikTok with the House lawmakers Tuesday afternoon, a person invited to the classified briefed shared with ABC News.

This comes ahead of legislations the House is set to vote on Wednesday that would force the sale of TikTok from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved legislation that gives ByteDance six months to divest from TikTok or face a U.S. ban.

TikTok, which has more than 170 million Americans users, said the legislation amounts to a “total ban,” and has called on its users to reach out to their members of Congress.

Many House members ‘hopeful’ legislation passes

Despite TikTok’s last minute lobbying blitz, House lawmakers on Monday were largely prepared to support the legislation.

The chamber is planning to take up the bill under suspension — a sign that GOP leaders are expecting at least two-thirds of the House to support the proposal.

“I’m very hopeful that the House is going to pass the bill to protect America from from … our adversaries through apps,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told ABC News Monday.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the top Democrat on the House select committee that introduced the legislation, said the bipartisan collaboration on this legislations should give “a lot of people comfort that this was thoughtfully crafted.”

Former President Donald Trump, who once advocated for a TikTok ban during his presidency, has reversed his position as he has been rebuilding his relationship with a GOP megadonor who reportedly has a major financial stake in the popular social media platform.

Last week, Trump posted on his own social media platform that getting rid of TikTok would benefit Facebook and that he doesn’t want that to happen, suggesting Facebook is a bigger problem for the country. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for more information about what motivated Trump’s changing view.

Some conservatives have signaled that they remain undecided on the legislation.

During a House Republican Conference meeting Tuesday morning, China Select Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., said Majority Leader Steve Scalise gave a “big, impassioned defense” of the TikTok bill.

“We are trying to talk to members who have concerns. I sort of talked to them at conference this morning,” Gallagher said Tuesday.

Gallagher said he was surprised to see the statement from Trump coming out against the TikTok bill.

“The world we all want to live in, and the world Trump would want to live in — particularly if he’s the one that gets to consummate the deal, is one in which ByteDance divests in TikTok and then TikTok is sold to an American,” he said.

Freedomworks, a libertarian group, is urging lawmakers to vote against the bill, calling it “an affront to the First Amendment.”

Some progressives have also bought into that argument, and said they haven’t seen enough evidence that TikTok is an active national security concern.

“I have a lot of concern about the interference of authoritarian and totalitarian governments like China and like Russia, in our open and free and democratic society. But also, what makes us an open free democratic society is the First Amendment and so we have to analyze the interaction of those competing concerns,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who is still reviewing the bill, told ABC News.

How could TikTok bill fare in the Senate?

National security hawks in the Senate have long been in search of a solution to the national security threat they say is posed by TikTok. Many seem ready to embrace the House’s bill; others are quiet.

Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has long supported banning the app.

“I don’t have any concerns about it — it’s the one that’s moved the furthest, its the one that has the best chance to pass,” Rubio said.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is another advocate of a TikTok ban. He was responsible for the legislation that ultimately led to a ban on the app on government devices. He said he’s hopeful the House bill will come to the Senate floor for consideration.

Still, there’s recognition in the Senate that there are problems with the bill. It’s not yet clear if there would be the groundswell of support needed to get 60 votes for this legislation to advance in the Senate.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he worries that the legislation, if not carefully considered, could have unintended consequences.

“I think my main concern is to make sure that we think it through. We have to keep in mind that some of the true giants in this space are U.S.-based firms,” Tillis said. “I think we need to be very, very careful here so we don’t start — you know — potentially expose our own companies to retaliation.”

Many Democrats have said they haven’t yet had a chance to review the legislation, and would withhold taking formal positions on it until the House sends it over.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has so far been non-committal on the legislation as well.

“Well, let’s see what the House does. I’ll have to consult and intend to consult with my relevant committee chairmen to see what their views would be,” Schumer said Tuesday afternoon.

‘Devastating’ impact on businesses

A TikTok ban could hurt the many businesses — five million by TikTok’s estimation — that use the platform to reach their customers.

TikTok content creators like Lynda Truong and Paul Tran say the bill would be “devastating.” The couple’s beauty brand, Love & Pebble, has gone viral on the platform — boosting their once-struggling business.

“Before, I was on other platforms, we just never found any success,” Truong said.

They said nearly all of their sales come from TikTok.

“A ban on TikTok would be devastating. Ninety percent of our sales are on TikTok Shop,” Tran said. “We would lose all of our customers.”

But lawmakers from both parties warn that TikTok and its Chinese parent company can’t be trusted. Many warn that China could manipulate the algorithm to spread its own propaganda, or tap in to users’ data like browser history and location and share that with the Chinese government. TikTok has denied these claims.

“… It’s just a very, very serious national security risk,” Krishnamoorthi said.

Gallagher said things seems to be coming together for the legislations to pass Wednesday.

“We have a great bipartisan core… leadership is there. The White House is there. It seems to be lining up. I just want a big vote on Wednesday. So that the Senate is forced to take it up. But I may have just jinxed myself,” Gallagher concluded.

ABC News’ Jay O’Brien contributed to this report.

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