ByteDance Denies It's Exploring TikTok Sale
ByteDance Denies It's Exploring TikTok Sale
The Facts
Following President Joe Biden's signing of a law on Wednesday threatening to outlaw the well-known app TikTok unless ByteDance divests its ownership, TikTok immedately responded that it will legally challenge the "unconstitutional ban."
ByteDance, social media platform TikTok's Chinese parent company, Thursday denied a report from The Information saying it preferred to shut down the app rather than sell it to a US-based company.
The Spin
TikTok as currently constituted is a national security risk because ByteDance, like other Chinese companies, is legally required to submit data to the Chinese government. So ByteDance must divest its ownership in order to keep users' data privacy secure.
This law isn't about national security, it's about commercially undermining China. ByteDance will fight this in the courts, and if it loses it might shut down the app and let the US deal with the backlash of a world without TikTok.
