03:50 PM EDT, 03/13/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would force China-based ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a US ban for the the short-video app, though there's uncertainty about the bill's passage in the Senate.

The bill passed the House in a 352-65 vote.

The move is aimed at addressing the "serious national security threat posed by our enemies," House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said. "Applications controlled by foreign adversaries can be weaponized to target, manipulate, and surveil millions of Americans."

Rodgers called on the Senate to move the bill to President Joe Biden's desk. Biden has said he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk, according to media reports.

"This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: it's a ban," TikTok said in a statement on social-networking site X. "We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service."

There's a 25% probability that the social media app ultimately gets banned in the US, as there are "many questions" around the bill's fate in the Senate, Wedbush Securities analysts, including Daniel Ives, said in a note released before the House vote. Assuming the bill is approved at all levels, ByteDance would have roughly six months to fully divest its US TikTok operations to another non-Chinese entity, according to the note. If its not divested by the deadline, it would be illegal for app store operators to make it available for download.

"While the price tag will be eye-popping, TikTok's strategic value and consumer platform will have a number of financial and tech strategic players interested if a sale becomes the formal path," the analysts wrote. The app could garner interest from private equity firms, as well as US tech giants such as Microsoft ( MSFT ) , Apple ( AAPL ) and Oracle (ORCL), they added. ByteDance could also consider an initial public offering and potential spin-off of the business, though "aggressive legal challenges" from the company are also likely, according to the note.

Any reorganization of TikTok's assets is expected to be positive for shares of major US-based advertising platforms, such as Amazon.com ( AMZN ) , Google ( GOOG ) parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), and Facebook parent Meta Platforms ( META ) , Wedbush said.

"The ramifications of a potential ban or even loud and growing noise in the Beltway heading into the US presidential election could have a major impact for Meta, Snapchat, Google ( GOOG ) and importantly could have retaliatory backlash from Beijing, with Apple ( AAPL ) and Tesla (TSLA) watching this situation carefully," the analysts said. Snapchat is owned by Snap (SNAP).

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