The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has issued a warning to America about efforts to ban its social media platform TikTok in the United States.
On Wednesday, the CCP warned that a ban on TikTok would “come back to bite the United States.”
The message was delivered Wednesday by Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.
Wang issued the warning as the House passed bipartisan legislation that would force the app’s parent company, Chinese-owned ByteDance, to sell the platform.
If CCP-linked ByteDance refuses, TikTok will face a ban from U.S. app stores and web hosting services.
The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in a 352-65 vote.
“Although the United States has never found evidence that TikTok threatens US national security, it has not stopped suppressing TikTok,” Wang said, according to AFP.
“This kind of bullying behavior 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,” he continued.
He was referring to The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
“In the end, this will inevitably come back to bite the United States itself,” Wang added.
The controversial legislation is dividing Republicans, however.
15 GOP representatives voted against the measure on Wednesday along with 50 Democrats.
As Slay News previously reported, President Donald Trump has had a major change of tune on the effort to ban TikTok as well.
He is now arguing that doing so would only empower Facebook.
TikTok has been the biggest competitive threat to Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Meta has even drastically changed Instagram to mimic TikTok as part of a failing effort to fend off its massively popular Chinese rival.
In a Monday interview, Trump warned that Facebook, and its CEO and founder Zuckerberg, are “an enemy of the people.”
“Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it,” Trump said on CNBC.
“There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it.
“There are a lot of users.”
“There’s a lot of good and a lot of bad with TikTok.
“But the thing I don’t like is, without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger.
“And I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with the media,” he added.
During his first term, Trump led efforts to ban TikTik in America.
However, his plans were blocked by congressional Democrats.
Since then, Meta and Zuckerberg have emerged as a significant threat to public freedom.
Meta’s censorship of conservatives coupled with Zuckerberg’s efforts to elect Democrats have become a major cause for concern.
Trump’s reversal came after it was found that Zuckerberg and Facebook significantly impacted the outcome of the 2020 election.
