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By Matthew Impelli
Life & Trends Reporter
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TikTok is urging users throughout the U.S. to call on Congress to stop a shutdown of the app amid new proposed legislation that could result in the app being banned.
On X, formerly Twitter, many users shared screenshots of notifications they received from TikTok on Thursday urging them to contact Congress and tell them to stop a possible shutdown of the app.
"When I opened TikTok today, I got this pop-up that gives you no option to exit or swipe away, the only action is to 'call now,'" Casey Lewis wrote on X, sharing an image of the notification.
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A spokesperson for TikTok confirmed to Newsweek that these notifications were sent out to users across the U.S. on Thursday.
The notification from TikTok said, "Congress is planning a total ban of TikTok. Speak up now - before your government strips 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression."
"This will damage millions of businesses, destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country, and deny artists an audience. Let Congress know what TikTok means to you and tell them to vote NO," the message from TikTok added.
Other social media users shared another notification from TikTok which said: "TikTok is at risk of being shut down in the US. Call your representative now."
The messages from TikTok come shortly after members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proposed legislation that seeks to have ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, divest the application or face a possible ban in the U.S.
"This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users," Republican Representative Mike Gallagher, who serves as the chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, said in a statement announcing the legislation. "America's foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States. TikTok's time in the United States is over unless it ends its relationship with CCP-controlled ByteDance."
Republican Representative Elise Stefanik said, "TikTok is Communist Chinese malware that is poisoning the minds of our next generation."
In March, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee to discuss the application and concerns that it is controlled by the CCP.
"Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country," Chew said during his testimony, adding that he is aware of "the fact that ByteDance has Chinese founders has prompted concerns that our platform could be used as or become a tool of China or the Chinese Communist Party."
"We do not believe that a ban that hurts American small businesses, damages the country's economy, silences the voices of over 150 million Americans, and reduces competition in an increasingly concentrated market is the solution to a solvable problem," Chew said.
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