In a dramatic response to a new US law aimed at divesting TikTok due to national security concerns, ByteDance, the parent company of the viral video app, has made a bold declaration. “ByteDance doesn’t have any plans to sell TikTok,” announced the tech giant on its official Toutiao account, in defiance of the legislation signed by President Joe Biden. The company branded the technology industry reports suggesting a sale as “not true,” combating the notion with a post stamped with “false rumor.”
The new law gives ByteDance nine months, with the possibility of a three-month extension, to negotiate a sale of TikTok before it is banned from US app stores. Nevertheless, ByteDance’s stance is clear, with the algorithms that drive TikTok’s success deemed too vital to its operation to relinquish. They’ve described the law as “unconstitutional” and vowed to challenge it in court, while TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew reassured users with a resolute message: “We aren’t going anywhere.”
The company’s other country founder holds a 20% share, about 60% is owned by institutional investors, including major US investment firms Carlyle Group, General Atlantic, and Susquehanna International Group. The rest is owned by employees worldwide, with three of the five board members being American.
for YouTube, Google, Instagram and other TikTok competitors, as many of its customers may jump ship, Capri said, a research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation and a lecturer at the National University of Singapore’s Business School. And it would be a major hit to the global ambitions of ByteDance.
Biden administration officials are beefing up a new office at the Commerce Department to enforce provisions of a Trump-era rule on protecting US information technology supply chains that covers connected apps and could be used to push for further restrictions.
“It seems unlikely that Congress would single out another company like TikTok for a specific bill, but the Commerce IT supply chain rule could be used in the future to limit the ability of other companies and apps to have access to portions of the US market,” Triolo said.
Relevant articles:
– TikTok will not be sold, Chinese parent ByteDance tells US – BBC News, bbc.com, 04/26/2024
– TikTok will not be sold, Chinese parent tells US, Yahoo News Canada, Fri, 26 Apr 2024 07:25:11 GMT
– Biden signs bill that would ban TikTok if ByteDance fails to sell the app, TechCrunch, Wed, 24 Apr 2024 15:33:45 GMT
– ByteDance won’t sell TikTok to US businesses, would rather shut down app, Firstpost, Fri, 26 Apr 2024 03:32:15 GMT
– Banning TikTok would hit China’s tech ambitions and deepen the global digital divide, CNN, Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:24:00 GMT