The U.S. government has called on Chinese TikTok owner ByteDance to sell its stake in the U.S. version of the app or face a ban.
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) recently informed ByteDance that the U.S. government could ban the video app if it doesn't sell its shares in TikTok.
- In response, TikTok said divesting the U.S. app wouldn't address ongoing concerns about national security.
- A spokeswoman said that an ownership change "would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access."
- U.S.
lawmakers and agencies are worried that TikTok may be forced to share
its U.S. user data with the Chinese government or be used for influence
operations.
- Meanwhile, TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to testify
before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee next week, where he
could face questioning over the app's links to Beijing and its effects
on young people.
- Chew also told the WSJ
that divesture of the app wouldn't provide more protections than
TikTok's own proposal to use domestic Oracle servers to store U.S. user
data, among other safeguards.
- TikTok now claims more than 100 million U.S. users, making it among the most popular apps.
