Biden Threatens TikTok Ban if Chinese Owners Don’t Sell Stakes
  • last year
The Biden administration is threatening to ban TikTok in the U.S. unless its Chinese-based parent company Byte Dance sells its stake in the video-sharing app. TikTok executives have said that 60 percent of ByteDance shares are owned by global investors, 20 percent by employees, and 20 percent by its founders. The founders’ shares carry outsize voting rights, which is common with tech companies. A spokesperson for TikTok said that selling the company and a change in ownership would not result in any new restrictions on data. The company pledged $15 billion to protect U.S. user data from Chinese government access or influence, with all data being stored in the U.S. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to appear before a congressional panel next week.
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