TikTok's CEO said the company hopes to win a legal challenge to block this legislation, which he says would ban the popular short-video app used by 170 million Americans.
President Joe Biden Biden signed a bill on Wednesday that will ban TikTok in the United States if its owner, the Chinese company ByteDance, does not divest itself of the popular short video application in the next nine months or a year. The platform is especially popular among young, left-leaning Americans, a group crucial to Biden's victory in November.
Meanwhile, TikTok's chief executive said the company hopes to win a legal challenge to block legislation signed by President Joe Biden that he says would ban the popular short-video app used by 170 million Americans.
"Rest assured, we're not going anywhere," Shou Zi Chew said in a video released after Biden signed the law giving China-based ByteDance 270 days to divest TikTok's assets in the United States. United or face a ban. "The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we hope to prevail again," he added.
Biden's firm sets a deadline of January 19 for the sale - one day before his term expires - but could extend the deadline by three months if he determines that ByteDance is making progress. Biden is seeking a second term against former President Donald Trump.
In 2020, Trump was blocked by the courts in his attempt to ban TikTok and WeChat, a unit of China's Tencent, in the United States.
AID PACKAGE TO UKRAINE
Biden also signed a bill providing billions of dollars of new U.S. aid to Ukraine for its war with Russia, scoring a rare bipartisan victory that ended months of wrangling with Republicans in Congress.
"This law provides vital support to America's partners so they can defend themselves against threats to their sovereignty," Biden declared.
The bill includes $61 billion in aid to Ukraine and $26 billion for Israel, as well as $1 billion in humanitarian aid to Gaza and $8 billion to counter China's military might.
The impact of the legislation was immediate. Biden said he had approved an initial supply of $1 billion in weapons to Ukraine and that the flow of these weapons would begin within hours.
The initial aid package includes vehicles, Stinger air defense ammunition, additional ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems, 155 mm artillery ammunition, TOW and Javelin anti-tank ammunition and other weapons that can be put into use immediately in the field of battle.
The Democratic president, who is expected to face former Republican President Donald Trump in the November elections, pressured lawmakers for six months to approve more funds for Ukraine, which has been fighting a large-scale Russian invasion for more than two years. Trump opposed aid to Ukraine, and some Republicans refused to support it, questioning whether Ukraine could ever win.
"This is a reminder of what America can do when we come together despite our differences," he said, adding that the passage of the legislation sends a direct message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose military has been gaining ground in Ukraine. .
