Why in News? US senate has passed a bill that could ban Tik-tok. The proposed law would allow TikTok to continue to operate in the US only if Bytedance sells it within nine months as the government is afraid that Chinese government can force domestic companies like Bytedance to share sensitive personal data of over 170million American users, or be abused to spread pro-Chinese propaganda.

Response to Bill: Many in the US see this move as an attack on free speech of 170 million Americans. As per Tiktok, this move could devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to US economy, annually. It is also being seen as a foreign policy tool under which Chinese tech companies are being targeted.

What Could Be the Consequences? There could be legal challenges, Beijing can also make retaliatory moves if the Bill were to become law. Earlier when Huawei was banned, Beijing introduced new guidelines aimed at blocking Intel and AMD chips in government PCs and servers.

Is This the First Attempt at Banning TikTok? No, under former President Trump, Bytedance was forced into selling TikTok’s American operations to an American company. Many companies had shown interest including Oracle and Microsoft.

Repercussions of Tech Bans- Such tech sanctions could be a double edged sword. They might slow down the progress of a country by having no access to cutting edge tools available across the world and such sanctions may also force them to develop their own technology which could reduce dependence on foreign companies and boost domestic tech. For example, Huawei had to develop its own smartphone operating system and chip after being banned from accessing US-made components and technology, including Android.