A bill that threatens to ban an app beloved by half of the American population just rocketed through the House of Representatives in a week's time. But in the other chamber of Congress, things are likely to be much more complicated.

TikTok the company and TikTok the chaotic community of creators and their followers are freaking out rightly so. Both were surprised by a spate of regulations that seem to spring forth from nowhere, taking as much of a shot at least as previous failed efforts have. Yet the measure that passed by a large majority in the House of Representatives has no equivalent on the Senate side. Yet far from clear is whether the Senate wants to follow suit with its house counterpart to laser-beam a particular tech company and a bespoke bill-what is another of several hang-ups before the law

After a House pass by the law, Senators in the chambers began getting chummy into the problem though some notable figures continue with their reservations. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has the power to determine chamber priorities and corral Democrats toward a unified vote, said only that the Senate "will review the legislation when it comes over from the House." Schumer would have had his moment to ride the House's momentum and rally support had he ever intended to fast-track a Senate version of the bill, but now he remains noncommittal.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) also spoke in the same vein, but lamented how countries like China are getting away with extracting personal data from Americans. "These are national security threats and it is good members in both chambers are taking them seriously," Sen. Cantwell said in an emailed statement to TechCrunch. "Following today's House vote, I will be talking to my Senate and House colleagues to try to find a path forward that is constitutional and protects civil liberties."

Cantwell's nod to the constitution hints at the First Amendment fight that will likely erupt in court if the House bill finds its way into law. Last year, TikTok successfully fended off a state-level ban on the app in Montana, arguing the law was unconstitutional. Prior to this, a spokesperson for the company had already described the legislation as a "governing attempt by the government to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression.".

While some Senate members took a step back, others leaped forward. Immediately after the House passed the bill, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued this joint statement:.

We share concerns about the national security risk posed by TikTok-an application with massive influence over and the potential to cleave Americans- whose parent company, ByteDance, remains legally obligated to the Chinese Communist Party," Warner and Rubio said in an emailed statement, adding they planned to collaborate to move the bill through the Senate. Their Senate committee, often briefed on national security matters, is especially relevant considering the nature of concerns being raised by TikTok's congressional critics.

Missouri Republican Josh Hawley, who often sows concern about China, weighed in after the vote on a Senate version of the TikTok bill. "NOW is the time to act on TikTok and stop China spying," Hawley posted to X. "The Senate should take this bill up right away." Still, Hawley said the legislation is likely to die a "death by a thousand cuts" if the Senate takes it up at all, given the chamber's failure to regulate big tech companies.

Another Senate Republican hawk on China, Senator Marsha Blackburn, also signed on to force one version of the House bill over another. "I am so pleased that the House moved their legislation forward … That is a very good sign," Blackburn said via an emailed statement.

Another big wrinkle for Senate Republicans in the war on TikTok is the opposition now voiced by the person who, four years ago, himself initiated the idea of a forced sale of TikTok: Former President Donald Trump. In a change of heart so abrupt he hasn't exactly explained why, Trump recently expressed himself to be against a TikTok crackdown, although not without his own grievances about being a victim of an internet censorship regime led by the Silicon Valley titan that, through its services and affiliates, dominates every online forum, including, for his sins, a Meta social network.

"Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people," Trump said in CNBC. Trump had changed his tune on TikTok, after meeting up with a billionaire Republican donor Jeffrey Yass, that owns 15% shares in Chinese parent company, ByteDance of the app maker.

And now, with President Biden calling for the TikTok bill's passage while Democrats demur, and tough-on-China Republicans falling out of step with their party's own leader, TikTok's fate in the United States is far from sealed.

As the clock ticks down, TikTok gets another window of opportunity to work against the legislation on Capitol Hill. And TikTok creators and their followers have more time to register their own opposition to the bill, calling attention to the massive chunk of the American electorate that stands to be alienated by a ban on TikTok in an election year.