The Biden administration has compelled TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell their shares in the well-known video app or risk being banned from the US market.
The action is the most significant of a string of recent ones taken by US authorities and lawmakers in response to concerns that US user data for TikTok would be given to China’s government.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company Bytedance, has more than 100 million US users.
Also, It is the first time possible ban on TikTok has been mentioned while Democratic President Joseph Biden has been in office. Republican Donald Trump, Mr. Biden’s Predecessor, attempted to outlaw TikTok in 2020 but was unable due to legal challanges.
The US Treasury-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), according to a spokesperson for TikTok named Brooke Oberwetter, asked that the Chinese owners of the app sell their shares or risk having the video app banned in the US.
If safeguarding national security is the goal, divestment is ineffective because a change in ownership would not impose any additional limitations on data flows or access, according to Ms. Oberwetter.
According to ByteDance, a 60% of its shares are owned by foreign investors, 20% by its staff, and 20% by its founders.
China says “Stop Suppressing ” TikTok
On Thursday, China’s Foreign ministry responded, stating that the US has not yet shown proof that TikTok posed a threat to national security.
The US should stop spreading disinformation about data security. stop suppressing the relevant company, and provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory envoirnment for foreign business to invest and operate in the US,” ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily briefing.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Chinese embassy in Washington, so it is unclear whether the chinese government would accept such divestitures.
