House committee advances legislation to ban TikTok over security concerns

Republican committee chair describes Chinese-owned social app as a ‘spy balloon in your phone’

A powerful US house committee has applied further pressure to TikTok by backing legislation that could give Joe Biden the power to ban the social video app.

The House foreign affairs committee voted on Wednesday along party lines to grant the administration new powers to ban the Chinese-owned app as well as other apps believed to pose security risks. The fate of the measure is still uncertain and it would need to be passed by the full House and US Senate before it can go to Biden.

Reuters contributed to this story