Biden administration urges Senate to quickly pass the TikTok ban bill to force app to separate from Chinese owners despite fury from Gen Z voters  and Joe having his own account

The White House is urging the Senate to pass a bill that would force TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company after the legislation, which could lead to a TikTok ban, passed in the House with overwhelming support.

Speaking to reporters as President Joe Biden headed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration wants to see the Senate move quickly.

Her remarks came after the House passed a bill Wednesday morning with bipartisan support 352 to 65 despite an avalanche of nonstop calls from TikTok users fighting against the bill. 

'We are glad to see this bill move forward. We will look to the Senate to take swift action,' Jean-Pierre said. 'This bill is important, and we welcome the step in an ongoing effort to address the threat posed by certain technology services operating in the United States that put at risk Americans' personal information and our broader national security.'

The White House argued the bill would not ban apps like TikTok but would ensure ownership is not in the hands of those who would exploit them.

But some lawmakers, users and TikTok officials disagree with the actual implications should the bill become law.

Now, senators will decide whether the national security threat posed by TikTok is worth the headache from constituents who love the app.

Lawmakers accused TikTok of providing its U.S. user data to its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance, which they say has connections to the Chinese Communist Party

TikTok sent this notification to users on Tuesday morning, prompting them to get in touch with their lawmakers to let them know whether they support the TikTok bill

The House China Select Committee says Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials through ByteDance are using TikTok to spy on its U.S. users' locations and dictate its algorithm to conduct influence campaigns, making it a national security threat.

ByteDance would have five months after the law is signed to divest from TikTok. If it does not, app stores and web hosting platforms would not be allowed to distribute it in the U.S.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not committed to a vote but said the Senate would review the bill when it came over from the House.

On Friday, President Biden said he would sign the bill should it reach his desk despite his own reelection campaign launching Biden's TikTok account just last month.

TikTok has some 170 million users in the United States. Ahead of the vote it urged users to pressure Congress not to pass the bill which it claimed would hurt millions of content creators and businesses.

Gen Z Congressman Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said Biden's support of the bill could hurt him with young people but more than that he called it bad policy despite having his own data privacy concerns.

Frost had an unlikely ally in former President Donald Trump who reversed his own past stance on banning TikTok and came out against the bill last week, claiming a TikTok ban would only help Facebook.

'I don't want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better,' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. 'They are a true Enemy of the People!' 

Elon Musk joined Trump in opposing the effort to reign in TikTok's influence, calling it government 'censorship,' in a post on X Tuesday.

'This law is not just about TikTok, it is about censorship and government control! If it were just about TikTok, it would only cite 'foreign control' as the issue, but it does not,' Musk stated.

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk has come out against the TikTok bill, claiming it could be used as a form of government suppression

 While the bill passed in the House with overwhelming support, there was also bipartisan opposition.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., voted against it, mentioning Musk by name, praising him for restoring her account on X after it was formerly banned and decrying the 'Pandora's Box' this bill could open. 

'What's to stop the U.S. government in the future from forcing the sale of another social media company claiming it is protecting American's data from foreign adversaries?'

'I believe this bill can cause future problems. It's opening Pandora's Box and I am opposed to this bill,' Greene said Wednesday on the House floor.

'This is really about controlling Americans' data, and if we cared about Americans' data then we would stop the sale of Americans' data universally, not just with China.' 

Greene was among a number of significant GOP members who voted against the bill, including Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Tom McClintock, R-Calif., Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and more.

On the other side of the aisle, 'Squad' members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also voted against the measure.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said the bill could be akin to opening 'Pandora's Box' and that the future implications the measure are unknown 

Gen Z Congressman Maxwell Frost said he was a 'hell no' vote on the TikTok bill ahead of a House vote forcing the app's Chinese parent company to divest or face a ban in the U.S.

But the bill's author, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., pushed back on Wednesday morning. 

'TikTok is a threat to our national security because its owned by ByteDance, which does the bidding of the communist party,' Gallagher said on the floor.

'This bill therefore forces TikTok to break up with the Chinese Communist Party. It does not apply to American companies.'

Gallagher argued his bill would only impact companies subject to control by foreign adversaries.

TikTok pushed back against the 'ban' in a statement shared with DailyMail.com after the House passed the bill.  

'This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: it's a ban. We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service.'

TikTok advocates gathered outside of the Capitol ahead of Wednesday's vote to push back against the bill

Some of the advocates that came to the Capitol Wednesday were TikTok content creators

The CCP also pushed back against the passage of the bill. 

'Although the United States has never found evidence that TikTok threatens US national security, it has not stopped suppressing TikTok,' foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. 

'This kind of bullying behaviour that cannot win in fair competition disrupts companies' normal business activity, damages the confidence of international investors in the investment environment, and damages the normal international economic and trade order.'

'In the end, this will inevitably come back to bite the United States itself,' Wang added.

TikTok sent this notification to users last week after the bill was introduced

The White House support for the bill comes just weeks after the president's own reelection campaign launched Biden's TikTok account in February in an effort to reach young voters as the president gears up for a rematch with Trump this November.

While Biden maintains a lead over Trump among young voters according to recent polls, the gap has shrunk since young voters helped propel him to the White House in 2020. 

The president has also faced backlash among young people over his support for funding for Israel as it wages war in Gaza.