Beijing displeased amid reports US will force ByteDance to sell TikTok or face US ban
- The comments came after reports that Washington has demanded that TikTok’s Chinese owners sell the app or face a ban in America
- A 2020 deal to sell the app collapsed after Beijing intervened and said government approval was necessary to export algorithms
China has urged the US government to stop “abusing state power” and “suppressing related businesses” amid reports that the Biden administration will demand a sale of TikTok, signalling Beijing’s growing displeasure with Washington’s stance on its technology sector.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a routine media briefing on Thursday that the US had failed to present any evidence to show that TikTok poses a threat to US national security and Washington should stop spreading “false information” over data security.
The comments came after reports that Washington has demanded that TikTok’s Chinese owners sell the app or face a ban in America, a request identical to one made by former US President Donald Trump two years ago.
TikTok spokeswoman Brooke Oberwetter was quoted by Reuters as saying that the company had recently heard from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an inter-agency committee that reviews the implications of foreign investments in the US, which had demanded that the Chinese owners of the app sell their shares, otherwise they would face a possible US ban of the short video app.
“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” TikTok’s Oberwetter was quoted as saying.
A 2020 deal to sell the app collapsed after Beijing intervened and said prior government approval was necessary before the export of domestic algorithms. TikTok also challenged the Trump administration’s executive order in the US courts and the Biden administration later allowed TikTok to continue operating in the US.
