U.S. House lawmakers have approved legislation banning TikTok if its parent company doesn’t sell the popular social media platform.
The legislation, which was included in a package of bills that would send aid to Ukraine and Israel, could become law as soon as next week if the Senate moves quickly.
Here’s what to know about TikTok, and why it is more controversial than other social media platforms.
What’s TikTok?
The Encyclopedia Britannica describes TikTok as a “social media platform designed for creating, editing, and sharing short videos between 15 seconds and three minutes in length.” It also describes it as a separate version of Douyin, a Chinese app that has the same basic functionality but includes content of interest to the Chinese public.
On ByteDance’s website, both Douyin and TikTok are listed as among the company’s list of products. Both apps also use the same icon.
TikTok saysByteDance was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs and is currently a privately held global …