---
title: "House passes bill that could ban TikTok"
description: "EU approves new law to protect press freedoms"
date: "2024-03-14"
authors:
  - name: "lwang"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/newsletter/the-briefing/house-passes-bill-that-could-ban-tiktok/"
---

# House passes bill that could ban TikTok

![](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/prc-logo.png){.aligncenter width=409}

---

March 14, 2024

# The Briefing

**☀️ Happy Thursday!** *The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information*.* [**Sign up here!**](https://www.pewresearch.org/sign-up-for-the-briefing/)*

**In today*’*s email:**

- **Featured story:** House passes bill that could ban TikTok

- **In other news:** Altered photo of British royals prompts media crisis

- **Looking ahead:** EU approves new law to protect press freedoms

- **Chart of the week:** How Americans view made-up or altered videos and images

🔥 **Featured story**

The House of Representatives [passed a bill](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/technology/tiktok-ban-house-vote.html) Wednesday with bipartisan support that would **require TikTok’s China-based parent company to either sell the app or risk a ban in the United States. **The legislation now heads to the Senate, where its fate is unclear.

While a majority of Americans said in May 2023 that TikTok is at least a minor [threat to U.S. national security](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/10/majority-of-americans-say-tiktok-is-a-threat-to-national-security/), **support for a TikTok ban fell over the course of the year,** according to [a recent Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/12/11/a-declining-share-of-adults-and-few-teens-support-a-us-tiktok-ban/). In fall 2023, 38% of U.S. adults said they would support the U.S. government banning TikTok, down from 50% who said the same in March 2023.

Overall, a third of U.S. adults (33%) say they [use the video-based platform](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/01/31/americans-social-media-use/), and the share who say they [regularly get news from TikTok](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/15/more-americans-are-getting-news-on-tiktok-bucking-the-trend-seen-on-most-other-social-media-sites/) has risen sharply in recent years, from 3% in 2020 to 14% in 2023.

📌 **In other news**

- How **altered photo of Princess Kate** caused [a media crisis](https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2024/03/11/kate-middleton-photo-standards/)

- Sports blogging site** Deadspin **sold, all [editorial staff to be laid off](https://www.axios.com/2024/03/11/deadspin-sold-by-go-media-editorial-staff-to-be-laid-off)

- Some new **digital media startups** are [finding success](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/business/media/digital-media-new-startups-business-model.html?unlocked_article_code=1.cE0.x3hg.byVGn-H1jQCu&smid=url-share)

- **Don Lemon's X show** [canceled before it debuts](https://www.nbcnews.com/media/don-lemon-former-cnn-anchor-says-elon-musk-canceled-new-show-x-rcna143234)

- **AP **to [launch e-commerce site](https://www.axios.com/2024/03/12/ap-ecommerce-taboola) to add revenue

- **Thomson Reuters **CEO says the company has [$8 billion to spend on AI](https://www.ft.com/content/9227c2e1-067e-4b49-8b33-9c276edc65e3)

- **Prisa Media **introduces [new AI tool](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/03/a-new-ai-powered-tool-can-help-journalists-detect-audio-deepfakes-in-spanish/) to detect **Spanish-language deepfake audio**

📅 **Looking ahead**

European Union lawmakers have [approved the Media Freedom Act](https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-lawmakers-adopt-media-freedom-law/), a bill aimed at **protecting news organizations from government influence, **including spyware targeting journalists. The law will go into effect across the EU in 2025.

In a [2019 Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/05/01/5-charts-on-views-of-press-freedom-around-the-world/) of 34 countries around the world, **majorities across Europe said it is very important that the media can report the news without government censorship **in their country. The survey also found that in Western Europe, those with populist views were less likely than non-populists to say the news media are very important to the functioning of their society.

📊 **Chart of the week**

In a [2019 survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/14/about-three-quarters-of-americans-favor-steps-to-restrict-altered-videos-and-images/), about **three-quarters of Americans (77%) said steps should be taken to restrict altered or made-up videos and images,** while just 22% said freedom to access or publish altered media should be protected.

![A chart showing that most U.S. adults say altered videos and images create a great deal of confusion about the facts of current events](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/FT_19.06.14_AlteredVideosImages_Most-US-adults-say-altered-videos-create-confusion-current-events.png){.aligncenter width=310}

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*👋 That's all for this week. *

The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Jacob Liedke, Sarah Naseer, Christopher St. Aubin, Luxuan Wang and Emily Tomasik. It is edited by Katerina Eva Matsa, Michael Lipka and Mark Jurkowitz, and copy edited by David Kent.

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