US Senators urged to vote against TikTok ban through notifications sent to users

Some U.S. users of TikTok saw a notification on Friday, advising them to contact their senators and request that they vote against a bill that would ban the well-known short-form video app if it isn’t separated from the Chinese tech company ByteDance.

“Express to your senator how much you value TikTok. The notice, which let users find their senator’s phone number by entering their zip code, said, “Ask them to vote no on the TikTok ban.”

“Now, if the Senate votes, the future of creativity and communities you love on TikTok could be shut down,” the notice stated.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass the bill giving ByteDance about six months to sell the U.S. assets of the app, or face a ban. The White House said the Senate should take “swift action,” and President Joe Biden said he would sign the bill.

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“We’ll continue informing our community about how the ban bill will affect them and what they can do to make their voices heard,” a TikTok spokesperson said, adding the alert is only being served to users of voting age.

The alert was displayed when some people opened the app, and it also appeared when users searched “TikTok ban.”

TikTok sent a similar alert to users ahead of the House vote, warning that “the government will take away the community that you and millions of other Americans love.”

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Lawmakers complained their offices were inundated with calls from TikTok users opposing the legislation.

With inputs from Reuters