TikTok ban puts jobs of thousands of US workers in jeopardy, California senator warns
Sen. Laphonza Butler, a former labor leader, urged Biden to consider their fate.
California Sen. Laphonza Butler urged President Joe Biden on Wednesday to consider the fate of thousands of U.S. employees of TikTok hours after he signed legislation that will force a sale of the app or ban it from the U.S.
The forced divestiture of TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, was part of a legislative package that included military aid to Ukraine. It passed the Senate in a 79-18 vote, which included support from Butler.
Butler, a former labor leader appointed in October by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the seat of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said the administration should weigh the consequences of the legislation on the company’s approximately 8,000 workers, who are mostly in California and New York.
“Their employment and the livelihoods of their families hang in the balance,” she wrote.