The US House of Representatives has taken a significant step towards potentially banning the popular social media platform TikTok, passing a bill in a decisive 352-65 vote. The legislation, titled the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," aims to address national security concerns surrounding the app's ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance.

Yahoo Finance's Akiko Fujita and Rachelle Akuffo break down the details.

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Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: The US House of Representatives passing a bill that could effectively ban the popular social media app TikTok.

- On this vote, the yeas are 352. The nays are 65. 1 present, 2/3 being in the affirmative. The rules are suspended. The bill is passed. And without the objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. OK.

[BANG]

AKIKO FUJITA: Officially named the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the bill requires TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to divest its US operations within 180 days to a buyer that is not from a foreign adversary country. Essentially, a non-China entity is what we're talking about here. Six months is what we're looking at right now.

Already-- let's see-- Beijing has already said it would firmly oppose any forced sale of TikTok. And, you know, Rachelle, we should point out how quickly this has moved. As we know, things don't move very quickly in DC, but last week, the House voting to push forward the bill here, today, the vote coming through.

The final tally here, 352 to 65, so not necessarily a unanimous vote. But we knew that it would go through the House here. The big question is going to be, what happens here in the Senate? Because senators have expressed some skepticism around the language of this bill that has gone through from the House.

Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, her office telling me yesterday that she really wants to find a path forward here that is constitutional and protects civil liberties. And that's certainly going to be the key debate. What does it mean to ban-- effectively ban, we should say, because it's not necessarily a ban-- one specific entity, one specific company? What kind of precedent does that set for other apps, other companies moving forward?

RACHELLE AKUFFO: And it's true. And I think one of the criticisms that was even raised by TikTok executive Michael Beckerman-- he wrote to Congress on Monday, saying that the bill raised serious constitutional concerns. So we'll see how that stands up to legal scrutiny when it comes to the First Amendment protections, but also being rushed through at an unprecedented speed without even the benefit of a public hearing.

And you figure the influence not just of your typical lobbyists when it comes to certain issues, but also the influencers who have also descended on DC as well not really having that chance here. It'll be interesting to see then what happens in the Senate, a slightly different dynamic as well. And as we look at some of the key measures in the bill, it really focuses on the foreign influence of apps, some of these national security risks by collecting data, the potential to spread misinformation.

Some of the presidential powers potentially giving the president authority to identify and take action against some of these apps if they are considered an adversary, which, you know, depending on the geopolitical environment, that could change, you know, from one country to another. The divestment requirement, as we mentioned there. And as we always will talk about, the focus on user safety, how this data is being used, and really looking for more proof on some of those adverse effects that they're supposed to be protecting American users from.