The Biden administration is demanding TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell stakes in the widely popular short video app, or it may face a possible ban in the US, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a source. The move puts further pressure on TikTok’s operator ByteDance amid growing concerns among American officials about the video app’s security. However, a TikTok spokesperson argued that divestment alone would not effectively solve the problem if protecting national security is the objective. According to the report, global investors hold a 60% stake in Beijing-based ByteDance, while the company’s employees and founders each own 20%. The divestment request is proposed by the US Treasury-led Committee on Foreign Investment and is targeting the app’s over 100 million US users. [WSJ]
TikTok faces potential US ban or sale of relevant stake by ByteDance: report · TechNode