Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly known as Twitter), on Friday expressed his opposition to a proposed U.S. ban on the social media app TikTok, citing concerns over freedom of speech.
On Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill by a margin of 360 to 58 that would force TikTok to divest from its parent company, ByteDance, or be excluded from the American market, citing national security threats. The bill now moves to the Senate for a vote next week.
TikTok currently has 170 million users in the United States alone.
“TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform,” Musk stated in a post on the social network he acquired in 2022. “Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression.”
The proposed legislation would also grant the U.S. president the authority to designate other applications as threats to national security if they are controlled by a country considered hostile.
Washington alleges that because ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing, TikTok’s American users are at risk of potential surveillance and censorship by the Chinese government. Beijing has repeatedly denied such claims, denouncing the move as suppression of Chinese enterprises.
TikTok criticized the bill, stating it would harm the U.S. economy and undermine free speech.
“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,” a company spokesperson said.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
