TikTok might get banned. For real this time.

04/23/24 • 23 min

5 Listeners

The Senate is expected to pass a bipartisan bill that would force TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform or face a national ban. How did Congress finally achieve consensus on this?

The Senate spent the day debating a bill that would provide billions of dollars in aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. But something else is also tucked into the bill: an ultimatum to TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the popular app or see it effectively banned in the United States.

Tech policy reporter Cristiano Lima-Strong says this is the latest attempt by Congress to force a sale of TikTok, which some lawmakers say poses a national security threat by putting the data of roughly 170 million Americans in the hands of the Chinese government. While a previous version of this bill had stalled in the Senate, this time the legislation is on the path to becoming law.

Cristiano joins Post Reports to break down the latest developments surrounding this bill as well as its potential consequences.

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff, with help from Elana Gordon. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Monica Campbell.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Cristiano joins Post Reports to break down the latest developments surrounding this bill as well as its potential consequences.

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff, with help from Elana Gordon. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Monica Campbell.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Previous Episode

Can cities fine unhoused people for sleeping outside?

Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the most significant legal challenge to the rights of unhoused people in decades. On “Post Reports,” we hear from a correspondent who visited the city at the center of the debate.

In the small city of Grants Pass, Ore., hundreds of people are living outside, with many camping in the public parks. The anti-camping laws in Grants Pass allow the city to fine those living in public spaces. But unhoused people in the city say that the fines are a violation of the Eighth Amendment and amount to cruel and unusual punishment, since the city has no homeless shelters and they have nowhere else to go.

“The more I've been out here, the more angry I get, because I've noticed that they're trying to push us out altogether,” said Laura Gutowski, who has been unhoused since 2021. “They're just trying to push, push, push until we give up and say, ‘Fine, I'll leave town.’”

Reis Thebault is The Post’s West Coast correspondent and traveled to Grants Pass to talk with unhoused people at the center of the case.

“If the Supreme Court were to agree with the 9th Circuit, then cities across the country would find their hands tied as they work to address the urgent homelessness crisis,” argues Theane Evangelis, the lead attorney for Grants Pass.

Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks also to Ann Marimow.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Next Episode

The mounting antiwar protests on college campuses

Today, a look inside the pro-Palestinian protests taking root on college campuses and why universities have been struggling to respond to them.

Over the past week, protests over the Israel-Gaza war have spread and intensified on college campuses across the country.

Pro-Palestinian student demonstrators across the country, including at Yale and Columbia University, have been arrested and removed from tent encampments on their campuses. Other encampments have been set up at many schools, including the University of California at Berkeley and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The demonstrations have put pressure on university leaders — coming from lawmakers, faculty, alumni and families concerned about antisemitism on campus, and from those who say some institutions have been too aggressive and are shutting down students’ rights to free expression.

Today on “Post Reports,” education reporter Susan Svrluga takes us through the students’ demands, the universities’ responses, the reactions of pro-Israel counterprotesters, and the future of this building movement.

Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson and Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Monica Campbell and mixed by Sean Carter. Special thanks to Hannah Natanson, April Bethea and Angelica Ang.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.