WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden said

on Friday he would sign legislation that gives China's ByteDance

about six months to divest the popular TikTok short video app as

his rival Donald Trump raised concerns about a ban of the

service used by 170 million Americans.

The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote next week on

the TikTok crackdown bill after a committee on Thursday

unanimously approved the measure.

"If they pass it, I'll sign it," Biden, a Democrat, told

reporters.

Republican Trump, who is seeking a return to the White House

in the November election, expressed objections to banning

TikTok, saying on social media: "If you get rid of TikTok,

Facebook ... will double their business," and added he does not

want Facebook "doing better."

Trump previously criticized Facebook parent Meta Platforms ( META )

for revoking his access to Facebook and Instagram after

removing two of his posts during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol

riot. His accounts were reinstated in February 2023.

The Trump campaign did not immediately comment on whether he

has a position on the legislation. Meta Platforms ( META ) declined to

comment.

The Justice Department told the House Committee on Energy

and Commerce that a divestiture bill, rather than a bill banning

TikTok, would put the government in a stronger legal position,

according to a document seen by Reuters.

Mike Pence, who served as vice president under Trump,

endorsed the proposed House legislation on TikTok. "China is

poisoning the minds of American children. Enough is enough," he

wrote on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to divest TikTok. If

it failed to do so, app stores operated by Apple ( AAPL ),

Alphabet's Google and others could not legally offer

TikTok or provide Web hosting services to ByteDance-controlled

applications.

In 2020, Trump sought to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat

but was blocked by the courts.

Republican Senator Rand Paul, who previously blocked

attempts to fast-track a TikTok ban, responded to Trump's

statement that said the former president helped address concerns

about U.S. users of TikTok through a $1.5 billion company

project.

"So why is the House GOP siding with Biden and still trying

to ban Tik Tok?" Paul wrote on X, using an acronym for

Republicans. "If Congress bans TikTok, they will be acting just

like the Chinese communists who have also banned TikTok ... Why

not just defend the first amendment?"

Trump said in an August 2020 executive order that TikTok

data collection "threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party

access to Americans' personal and proprietary information -

potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal

employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal

information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage."

TikTok, which says it has not and would not share U.S. user

data with the Chinese government, argues the House bill amounts

to a ban. It is unclear if China would approve any sale or if

TikTok it could be divested in six months.

"This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban

of TikTok in the United States," the company said after the

House Energy and Commerce Committee vote. "The government is

attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their

Constitutional right to free expression."

The app is popular and getting legislation approved by both

the House and Senate in an election year may be difficult. Last

month, Biden's re-election campaign joined TikTok.

Trump's campaign has not joined TikTok.