TikTok Reactivates Creator Lobby as Ban Bill Clears House Panel

A bipartisan bill to ban TikTok unless it cuts ties with its Chinese owner, ByteDance, cleared a crucial hurdle in the House of Representatives on Thursday when the House Energy Committee approved it with a unanimous vote. The vote signaled that a long-simmering threat to the app may be boiling over into concrete action.

The bill’s quick progress prompted TikTok to reactivate creators to help with lobbying, as it did about a year ago when the threat of a ban last surfaced. TikTok went even further than last time over the past 24 hours, alerting users of the threatened ban and asking them to contact their local representatives to complain. And it contacted members of the House of Representative and the Senate to register its opposition to the bill, said aides to senators and representatives.