The U.S. House of Representatives has taken a significant step against TikTok, one of the most popular social media apps in the world.
Legislators voted 352-65 Wednesday to pass a bill that would give TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, six months to divest the app or face a ban, which could have widespread ramifications across millions of its users.
The bill would still need to pass the Senate, but President Joe Biden has said he would sign it into law if it reached his desk.
While much of TikTok's content is meant to entertain and inform, there are others who use it for business. However, others argue that it poses a threat to privacy and cyber security.
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"It's a ticking time bomb, and I'm glad Congress is actually taking the time to make a law about and I think we need to do as a state," said State Rep. Michael Soter of Worcester District 8.
Soter filed a bill last year calling on the commonwealth to ban all social media apps from China and other adversaries on government devices.
"The more people put on their government-owned devices, there's ways for people to get in, and hackers to get in, to get into private systems, private information," he said.
But a nationwide ban could impact about 170 million American users, with a good number of them depending on it to make a living.
"It's going to leave a lot of creators jobless," said Boston Food Journal founder Brittany DiCapua.
DiCapua has thousands of followers who turn to her for food recommendations around Boston.
"It actually has replaced my day job," she said. "So full-time, I'm a content creator, and I have my own social media agency."
DiCapua said many content creators on TikTok will need to prepare a backup plan and jump to other platforms in the event the app gets banned, risking a collapse of the TikTok economy.
"Now more than ever, it's important for us to make sure that we're on all of those platforms and creating content for those platforms," she said.
TikTok has also served as a platform for those who would otherwise never be heard.
"I was just, like, crumbling away, and I go to the gym now … I got a job, I got a place to live," said Troy McDermott, who was a homeless drug addict just a year ago.
McDermott was discovered by a good Samaritan who took to TikTok to share his story.
"TikTok really help me save these people," said Victor Oliveira, a local online celebrity.
Oliveira's videos helping the homeless have earned him millions of followers, who in turn have donated to help to save 35 people from the streets in the last two years.
Oliveira believes the app can be used to do good and should be protected under the First Amendment.
"People have the right to just speak and be themselves on TikTok," he said.
