US lawmakers tune out TikTok lobbying to advance bill to ban app

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A powerful US congressional committee has passed a bill that would remove TikTok from app stores unless its Chinese owner divests the video-sharing platform, brushing off a lobbying campaign that had enlisted thousands of its users.

The House energy and commerce committee approved the bipartisan bill 50-0 on Thursday after a classified briefing from officials about the risks the app posed to Americans because of its ownership by the Chinese group ByteDance.

US security officials say Beijing could access the personal data of the 170mn Americans who use TikTok because of Chinese laws requiring domestic companies to hand over information to the government.

In the hours before the vote, TikTok used its app to urge users to call their congressional representatives, providing telephone numbers for the relevant offices based on the zip codes that users had registered. Congressional offices reported being swamped by calls.

After the vote, TikTok said lawmakers were “attempting to strip 170mn Americans of their constitutional right to free expression”.

In another boost for the legislation, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said it was another important bill to “take on China”. Republican House majority leader Steve Scalise said he would bring the bill to the House floor for a full vote next week.

Johnson’s backing and the unanimous vote suggest that the bill will have little trouble passing the House. Supporters hope that will give the measure momentum in the Senate where previous efforts to curtail TikTok have struggled over concerns that include the impact on free speech.

The White House is also backing the legislation, which was written with the help of National Security Council officials.

“Clearly the alignment between the administration, both parties on the hill and the intelligence community ensured this effort to oppose the bill…