While Biden signs the TikTok bill, marketers still aren’t panicking

When it comes to the TikTok “divestment or ban” bill, marketers are worried. But most are not too panicked about the outcome — at least not yet.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill (79 votes to 18) on Tuesday to ban TikTok in the U.S. if owner ByteDance doesn’t sell its shares within nine to 12 months. It’s a revision of a previous bill, approved by the House, which gave ByteDance 165 days to sell TikTok. The new bill, linked to a $95 billion foreign aid package, includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $17 billion for Israel’s weapons and $9 billion for Gaza. TikTok’s inclusion falls under the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024 and gives ByteDance 270 days to divest the company. President Biden signed it yesterday.

Responding to Digiday’s request for comment on the matter, a TikTok spokesperson said: “This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court. We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail. The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate 7 million businesses and silence 170 million Americans. As we continue to challenge this unconstitutional ban, we will continue investing and innovating to ensure TikTok remains a space where Americans of all walks of life can safely come to share their experiences, find joy and be inspired.”

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