Biden Signs Law Providing Aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan with TikTok Ban on Chinese Parent Company

President Joe Biden has signed into law measures providing aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan as well as forcing Chinese TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell its social media platform or face a national ban. The legislation allocates around $60bn in assistance for Ukraine, almost $27bn for Israel and roughly $8bn for security in the Indo-Pacific region including Taiwan. It also requires ByteDance to divest TikTok within nine months – with an extension of up to a year if Biden invokes a 30-day delay – or else face a US ban on its use. The Chinese company has pledged legal action against the move, calling it “unconstitutional” and warning that it would harm seven million businesses in America and silence more than 170m users of TikTok. Biden’s signature follows House approval over the weekend after the Senate voted overwhelmingly for the legislation on Tuesday night. The law is a result of lengthy political skirmishing which almost ended with House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, being ousted by hardline Republicans including Marjorie Taylor Greene, who threatened to eject him following objections he had raised against an earlier $95bn Senate proposal to provide financial aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan without TikTok sanctions. Ultimately though it was Iran’s attempted missile strike on Israeli targets that persuaded Johnson last week to put four separate bills before the House with three providing foreign assistance and a fourth containing other policy proposals including those aimed at ByteDance. While Biden has backed the legislation, his 2024 election campaign has vowed to continue using TikTok until its ban takes effect after the next US presidential vote in November because Johnson’s nine-month/year delay offers scope for ByteDance to retain ownership of the platform during that timeframe.