The US requests that ByteDance sell TikTok. China most likely will not accept
The Chinese internet behemoth ByteDance, which owns TikTok, may soon face pressure from the US to either shut down its operations here or outright prohibit the app.
However, a sale is uncertain, in part because China is anticipated to obstruct it.
A measure stating ByteDance must sell off its ownership of TikTok within around six months in order for the app «to remain available in the United States» was adopted by the House on Wednesday. The Senate still needs to approve this bill before it becomes law.
Washington has long said that TikTok presents a risk to national security because it may allow the Chinese government to have access to American data.
Congressmen in the United States are also worried about the short video app’s purported connections—which the developer has refuted—to the Chinese Communist Party.
The divestment of TikTok’s U.S. company is unlikely to receive approval from the Chinese government, even if the measure passes.
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) threatened to ban ByteDance if it didn’t withdraw from TikTok last year. At the time, China would «firmly oppose» any effort by the United States to require the sale of TikTok, according to Shu Jueting, a spokesman for the country’s Ministry of Commerce.
