The last time the Biden administration and members of Congress got serious about forcing changes to the company that owns TikTok, panic about the potential political consequences of the move was best explained by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
“The politician in me thinks you’re gonna literally lose every voter under 35, forever,” she told Bloomberg Businessweek last year.
At the time, the bipartisan discussion was about banning the popular social media app in the U.S. That didn’t happen. But now, the bill that aims to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell the app will become law as part of the foreign aid package that passed the Senate on Tuesday night — and politicians will have to explain it to voters.