For a while now, US politicians have been covering their defence of their corporate paymasters by claiming any move they made was because China was a security risk. This enabled them to bolster US telecom companies when there were better and cheaper alternatives from Huawei. Being “anti-foreigner” always sits well with white middle-aged people.

Yesterday, US House of Representatives members reportedly voted in favour of legislation leading to a nationwide ban of TikTok as part of a move to force parent company ByteDance to divest its US assets. This divestment would presumably be to a company run by white middle-aged Americans.

Reuters reported the legislation passed by the House of Representatives will give ByteDance six months to sell off its interest in TikTok. The legislation still needs to be approved by the US Senate and then signed into law by President Joe Biden (who will probably need to be told that TikTok is not the sound a clock makes).

 The news agency reported the legislation faces a more uncertain path in the Senate, which could favour a different approach.

But this is going to be where things get messy. TikTok is not a telephone networking company; most people know what it does. This is particularly true of Generation Z, who might hold the key to winning the next election.

Politicians are reporting that their phones have been running red hot by young people telling them to leave their TikTok accounts alone.  One politician said that Generation Z people used to flood his office with calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, but now the calls are primarily about TikTok.