Thursday March 7, millions of TikTok users in the United States saw a surprising message displayed in the video application. “Prevent TikTok from shutting down” the social network urged them, before explaining at greater length: “Congress plans a total ban on TikTok. Speak out now before your government strips 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free speech. This measure will harm millions of businesses, destroy the livelihoods of many creators across the country, and deprive artists of their audiences. Let Congress know what TikTok means to you and tell them to vote no. »
The reason for this extremely unusual message? The vote on a law text, Thursday March 7, by a committee of the House of Representatives, one of the two components of the American parliament. If it were definitively adopted, the text would force ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to cede capital control of its application, otherwise it could be banned on American territory.
A very visible red button “Call now” concluded the message posted on TikTok. After pressing it, the user was asked for their postal code, the application then using it to find the telephone number of their MP and offer to call them with a single click. To get rid of this message and use the application normally, according to a company spokesperson, you had to slide it to the right. A gesture that many users have probably not thought of doing, more accustomed to progressing in the application by thumbs up.
MPs overwhelmed with calls
Result: the phones of many members of the House of Representatives were completely overwhelmed. Relatives of several deputies anonymously claimed At New York Times having received hundreds or even thousands of calls. “We had to turn off our phones. Which means we might miss phone calls from constituents who need urgent help with something.” laments, for example, from the site Axiosthe member of the team of a Democratic deputy.
The law voted on Thursday by the House committee is far from being definitively adopted: it must first be validated by the entire House of Representatives before going to the Senate, where several competing texts are also examined. However, it brings together support from the majority and the opposition (it was adopted in committee with unusual unanimity), as well as that of the White House.
“This text is a pure and simple ban from TikTok, whatever the camouflage that its authors want to apply to it, the company said in a statement. This legislation would trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans [qui protège la liberté d’expression] and would deprive five million small businesses of a platform they need to grow and create jobs. » An opinion shared by the main American organization defending freedom of expression, the American Civil Liberties Union, who said to herself “deeply disappointed that our politicians are trading the First Amendment for vulgar political points during an election year”.
A risky strategy
The decision to take its users to task could, however, backfire on the application. “I guess when you have a billion dollars you can come up with some crazy public affairs strategy. But there will be a blowback, these calls and the disinformation have made the deputies furious” entrusted a member of the team of a Republican elected official to Axios.
“This is an example of an adversary-controlled app lying to the American public and interfering with the legislative process in a bizarre way that supports our argument.”, stormed Mike Gallagher, one of the two authors of the law. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the other co-author, for his part denounced “a massive propaganda campaign falsely portraying our legislation as a total ban. It’s not one of them. We want TikTok to remain available, but with a new owner. Our priority is to free TikTok from the influence of the Chinese Communist Party to protect American consumers and small businesses. »
The question of influence or even control exercised by China over the application is an existential threat for TikTok since many governments, in the United States and Europe, regularly cite it to justify coercive measures. In 2020, the Trump administration attempted to ban the app, launching a court battle before Joe Biden’s government reversed course. The state of Montana even tried in 2023 to completely ban the application, an initiative blocked for the moment by the courts.