(Updates with U.S. House of Representatives passing new version

of legislation)

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of

Representatives passed a bill on Saturday that would give

TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance about a year to divest the U.S.

assets of the short-video app, or face a nationwide ban. It now

moves to the Senate where it could be taken up for a vote in the

coming days.

Here is a look at the effort to ban the app, its chances in

the U.S. Senate and what that would actually mean.

WHY ARE US OFFICIALS TRYING TO BAN TIKTOK?

U.S. officials warn TikTok's management is beholden to the

Chinese government and fear Beijing could use the social media

app to influence the 2024 U.S. elections, Director of National

Intelligence Avril Haines told a House of Representatives

intelligence committee hearing in March.

Many U.S. lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic

parties and the Biden administration also say TikTok poses

national security risks because China could compel the company

to share the data of its 170 million U.S. users.

The Department of Justice recently warned lawmakers that

because ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing, TikTok's American

users are at risk because "foreign governments like the PRC

(China) that are known for their surveillance and censorship."

WHAT DOES THE BILL MEAN?

In an election year when many politicians do not want to be

seen as soft on China, the bill is the latest in a series of

moves responding to national security concerns. Officials in

both political parties have raised red flags about TikTok along

with other issues ranging from connected vehicles to advanced

artificial intelligence chips to cranes at U.S. ports.

On the other side, many younger voters oppose a ban because

they use the app to express their views and follow politics.

Earlier this year, President Joe Biden's re-election campaign

joined TikTok, raising hopes among company officials that

legislation was unlikely this year.

WHO VOTED IN FAVOR OF THE BAN?

The bill passed by a margin of 360 to 58 with broad

bipartisan support as part of a $95 billion legislative package

that also provides security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and

Taiwan.

Saturday's TikTok measure stems from legislation introduced

on March 5 by Mike Gallagher, the Republican chair of the House

of Representatives' select China committee and Representative

Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat, with more than a dozen

lawmakers.

Detractors include Democratic Representative Ro Khanna who

told ABC News on Sunday that he felt a TikTok ban may not

survive legal scrutiny in courts, citing the Constitution's free

speech protections.

A number of prominent Democrats in the House voted against

the bill, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush and

Pramila Jayapal.

"There are serious antitrust and privacy questions here, and

any national security concerns should be laid out to the public

prior to a vote," Ocasio-Cortez said at the time.

HOW WOULD A BAN BE ENFORCED?

If passed by the Senate in its current form and signed into

law by Biden, the bill would give TikTok's Chinese owner

ByteDance about nine months to divest the U.S. assets of the

short-video app. The deadline could be extended by three months

if the president was to determine progress toward a sale.

It is unclear whether China would approve any sale or if

TikTok's U.S. assets could be divested in that period of time.

If ByteDance 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 theory the ban would make it difficult, if not

impossible, for users to access TikTok in the U.S.

IS TIKTOK BANNED IN OTHER COUNTRIES?

India banned TikTok along with dozens of other apps by

Chinese developers in June 2020, saying they could compromise

national security and integrity. Nepal's government banned the

app in November 2023.

Several countries, including the U.S., Australia, Canada and

New Zealand have banned TikTok from federal government-owned

devices.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR TIKTOK IN THE U.S.?

The TikTok bill passed by the House has a good chance of

being passed in the Senate because it has been packaged with

several top priorities of the Senate, including aid for Ukraine

and Israel.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, who will

play an important role in the Senate's next move, expressed

support for the latest bill. She had earlier asked the House to

revise some details in the bill voted on March 13.