Beijing scrambles to defend TikTok amid looming threat of US ban

China is rushing to the defense of TikTok amid threats that the app may be removed inside the United States.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill on Wednesday that would force Bytedance, a Chinese-based company, to sell its subsidiary app TikTok or face a U.S. ban. Beijing condemned the bill on Wednesday, claiming it has never been proven that TikTok poses a security risk and accusing the U.S. of stifling economic competition.

“In recent years, though the United States has never found any evidence of TikTok posing a threat to U.S. national security, it has never stopped going after TikTok,” Wang Wenbin, spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, told reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday, according to The New York Times. “[The U.S. is] resorting to hegemonic moves when one could not succeed in fair competition.”

Chinese-state media also rallied behind the defense of TikTok this week.

“According to U.S. constitutional law, Congress cannot simply ban TikTok or any social media platform unless it can prove it poses clear and present dangers that can’t be addressed by any other means,” reads an opinion piece from China Daily on Sunday. “But the lawmakers have yet to provide convincing proof for their allegations.”

TikTok has fallen under scrutiny from lawmakers and critics for years over its ties to ByteDance, which is suspected of conducting data collection and espionage on behalf of the Chinese government. The U.S. has tried to ban TikTok before but has been unsuccessful.

TikTok has condemned the bipartisan bill and claims it would be an outright ban, though this would only be true if ByteDance refuses to sell the app. The company has urged users to call lawmakers and tell them not to vote on the bill.

“Lawmakers know – as they have repeatedly tweeted and said in the media – that the end result of this legislation is a TikTok ban in the United States,” the company said in a statement on Monday. “It’s shameful members of Congress would complain about hearing from their own constituents.”

Now that the bi-partisan bill passed in the House, it will head to the Senate for consideration. If passed in the Senate, the bill will go to the desk of President Joe Biden, who said last week he would give it the green light.

“If they pass it, I’ll sign it,” Biden told reporters on March 8.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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