On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed legislation that could ban TikTok in the US if ByteDance — the app's parent company based in China — refuses to sell its stake.
Though there have been threats of banning TikTok in the past, this time, the possibility feels real, as President Joe Biden has said he'll sign it into action if a bill approved by the Senate lands on his desk.
While lawmakers tout currently unfounded security concerns, the app's millions of US users have added to the conversation by noting how detrimental the banning of TikTok could be.
I know I won't be alone in saying this, but TikTok quite literally changed my life. Before BuzzFeed, I worked at a company that repeatedly made decisions I couldn't stand behind. Then, one fateful day, I refreshed BF's careers page and found a job where I could interview creators and write about the internet — much of which takes place on the clock app. And now, lawmakers are trying to take that away.