TikTok, the popular video-sharing app owned by ByteDance, has been facing a potential ban in the United States. Despite this threat, ByteDance has announced that it will not sell TikTok in order to continue its operations in the U.S. This decision comes despite a law signed by President Biden that gives ByteDance one year to sell TikTok or risk being banned from the U.S.
The ban was prompted by national security concerns about the Chinese government’s ability to access U.S. user data through TikTok. However, ByteDance is standing firm and has released a statement on Toutiao, a news aggregation app it owns, refuting reports that it was exploring options to sell TikTok in the U.S. without its algorithm. The company has made it clear that these reports were false and stated that it has no plans to sell TikTok.
If TikTok were to be sold in the U.S., it would likely be a different app from what users are familiar with today, as Chinese export rules would govern the transfer of the app’s algorithm. The TikTok algorithm has been a crucial element in the app’s popularity among users. Meanwhile, TikTok has announced its intention to challenge the new law in court. Previous attempts to ban TikTok, including those under the Trump administration and in various states, have been thwarted by the courts
