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A group of lawmakers have introduced <\/a>a new bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok in order for the app to remain available in the United States. The \u201cProtecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act\u201d would prohibit US app stores and web hosting services from distributing TikTok unless it divested from parent company ByteDance.<\/p>\n The bill is the latest in a long line of attempts by lawmakers and other officials to ban or force a sale of the app. Former President Donald Trump attempted to force <\/a> of TikTok in 2020, but was ultimately unsuccessful. The Biden Administration has also pressured the company <\/a>. And a US District Court Judge recently <\/a> an attempt to ban the app in Montana.<\/p>\n The new bill, which comes from a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House, takes a different approach. It would give ByteDance a six-month window to sell TikTok before app store-level bans would come into effect. It would also require TikTok and other apps to \u201cprovide users with a copy of their data in a format that can be imported\u201d into competing apps. And though TikTok is referenced several times in <\/a> of the bill, the legislation would open the door for bans on other \u201cforeign adversary-controlled\u201d apps if the president deemed them to be a national security threat.<\/p>\n \u201cThis bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it,\u201d TikTok said in <\/a>. \u201cThis legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n TikTok CEO Shou Chew has maintained that a divestment <\/a> fully address officials\u2019 concerns about US user data. The company has spent years trying to address national security concerns about its service with an initiative called <\/a>. Under the plan, created as a result of years of negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), US users\u2019 data would be separated into US-based servers and government officials would be able to oversee audits of TikTok\u2019s source code and other aspects of its operations.<\/p>\n