ByteDance Denies It's Exploring TikTok Sale

Facts

• ByteDance, social media platform TikTok's Chinese parent company, Thursday denied a report from The Information saying it was exploring a sale of the app to a US-based company.¹
• In a post on Toutiao, a media platform owned by ByteDance, the company said it has no intentions to sell despite US Pres. Joe Biden this week signing a law requiring a sale of TikTok to a US entity within 270 days under threat of a ban.²
• Previously, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew promised a prolonged legal fight by the company to challenge the law.²
• Meanwhile, Reuters reported ByteDance would rather shut down the app than sell it if it loses in the courts. Sources close to ByteDance said in the report that it would be less harmful for the company to shut down TikTok than to sell it with its algorithm.³
• TikTok launched in 2017 and its unique algorithm is considered advantageous to those of its competitors. Other social media platforms, including Instagram and X (previously known as Twitter), have reportedly tried to copy its design by incorporating similar functionality.⁴

Sources: ¹Forbes, ²New York Post, ³Al Jazeera and ⁴Independent.

Narratives

• Anti-China narrative, as provided by New York Times. TikTok as currently constituted is a national security risk because ByteDance, like other Chinese companies, is legally required to submit data to the PRC government. ByteDance must divest its ownership in order to keep users' data privacy secure.
• Pro-China narrative, as provided by Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. This US law isn't about national security, it's about commercially undermining China. ByteDance will fight this in the courts, and if it loses it might shut down the app and let the US deal with the backlash of a world without TikTok.

Predictions