That means all 170 million Americans who use the app can continue to use it until after the 5 November poll.
The bill passed the Senate 79-18 on Wednesday, three days after it cleared the House of Representatives with strong bipartisan support.
An earlier version of the bill would have banned TikTok before the election but this meant that candidates would not be able to use the app for campaigning with younger voters who are the main users of the app.
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The bill allows US President Joe Biden to grant a one-time extension of 90 days for the sale of the app, bringing the deadline to one year. Even without this extension, the earliest a sale could be effected is January 2025.
The US claims TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users and serves as a conduit to spread propaganda. China and the company have strongly denied these claims.
Following the House vote on Saturday, TikTok complained that it was “unfortunate” politicians sought to “jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes US$24 billion to the US economy, annually.”
China reacted to the bill back in March when it was introduced in the House of Representatives. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the US of "suppressing TikTok" despite the fact that it "never found evidence that TikTok threatens national security".
"This kind of bullying behaviour that cannot win in fair competition disrupts companies' normal business activity, damages the confidence of international investors in the investment environment, and damages the normal international economic and trade order," Wang added.
"In the end, this will inevitably come back to bite the United States itself."
Dexter Thillien, lead analyst, Technology and Telecoms, at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said the US had now joined Iran, India and Afghanistan in prohibiting the Chinese-owned app.
He said a decision could be overturned by the Supreme Court on the grounds that it affected constitutional rights to free speech, pointing out that the court was increasingly the ultimate decider of technology policy for the US.
"The US, like many other countries, is prioritising national objectives over international goals, in a tech world that is becoming increasingly fragmented and regionalised," Thillien said.
He noted that with the ban approved, the US would take its tech policies closer to those of China, which has banned the major US Internet platforms on its territory for many years.
"China's government favours a cyber-sovereignty Internet governance model, which is closed, centralised and country-led," Thillien said.
"This is very different from the multi-stakeholder governance model the US has backed until now, which is open, decentralised and industry-led.
"This move to a more Chinese approach to the Internet was also apparent back in October 2023, when the Office of the US Trade Representative withdrew its backing of traditional US digital trade objectives at the World Trade Organisation."
Amit Yoran, the chief executive and chairman of security outfit Tenable, said: "Passage of the new TikTok law only addresses part of the challenge posed by social media to Americans’ security.
"The Chinese Government’s access to TikTok user data is, no doubt, a threat to our national security, but what’s also concerning are the active cyber threats posed by most social media platforms to their users.
“It’s unacceptable that social media applications are still unregulated and continue to broadly collect vast amounts of sensitive user data, such as active locations, contact information, birth dates, personal interests, and user photos.
"With AI, this kind of personal information can be co-opted much faster to cause interference and influence. Social media companies need to take immediate action to better protect user data or expect to face regulatory oversight."
