TikTok to fight ‘unconstitutional’ ban after House passes bill

TikTok has vowed to fight any law that forces its China-based parent company to sell the popular video-sharing app or face a US ban after the House of Representatives tied the bipartisan proposal to a crucial aid package for Ukraine and Israel.

Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, told staffers in a memo after Saturday’s vote that the ban was unconstitutional and that TikTok would go to court in an effort to strike it down.

“This is the beginning, not the end of this long process,” Beckerman wrote in the memo, which was reported by The Information.

“At the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge,” he said.

President Biden has said that he would sign the legislation, which now goes to the Senate, which can approve the measure as early as Monday.

Beckerman said the “unconstitutional” ban was the result of an “unprecedented deal” hatched between Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House, and Biden.

House Republicans included the TikTok ban in a larger foreign aid package that included assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

The new bill lengthens the time that ByteDance has to divest from TikTok. Initially, the House bill required the company to sell within six months of the law going into effect.

The modified measure, passed by a 360-58 vote, now goes to the Senate after negotiations that lengthened the timeline for the company to sell to nine months, with a possible additional three months if a sale is in progress.

“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 that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the US economy, annually,” a TikTok spokesperson told The Post on Monday.

Aside from denouncing the proposed ban, TikTok also once again directed its users in the US to flood their senators with phone calls to oppose the legislation.

Meanwhile, TikTok general counsel Erich Andersen, who has led the company’s negotiations with the US government, told colleagues that he intends to step down, according to The Information.

In a note to fellow executives, Andersen said he will continue in his role for the time being “until the company is ready to proceed with the transition to a new leader and we can be assured that there will be no drop-off in focus and attention.”

Andersen wrote that he intends to continue at ByteDance as a legal adviser after stepping down as general counsel.

TikTok has lobbied hard against the legislation, but the ferocity of the pushback angered lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where there is broad concern about threats to US national security.

“We will not stop fighting and advocating for you,” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a video that was posted on the platform last month and directed toward the app’s users.

“We will continue to do all we can, including exercising our legal rights, to protect this amazing platform that we have built with you.”