Beijing said to prefer shutdown of TikTok in US to its forced sale
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WASHINGTON • Beijing opposes a forced sale of TikTok's operations in the US by its Chinese owner ByteDance, and would prefer to see the video-sharing app shut down in the country, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok's business in the US to potential buyers, including Microsoft and Oracle, since US President Donald Trump threatened last month to ban the service if it was not sold.
Mr Trump has given ByteDance a deadline of mid-September to finalise a deal.
However, Chinese officials believe a forced sale would make both ByteDance and China appear weak in the face of pressure from Washington, the sources said on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
ByteDance said in a statement to Reuters that the Chinese government had never suggested to the company that it should shut down TikTok in the US or in any other markets.
Two of the sources said China was willing to use revisions it made to a technology exports list on Aug 28 to delay any deal reached by ByteDance, if it had to.
China's State Council Information Office and its foreign and commerce ministries did not respond to requests for comment.
Asked on Friday about Mr Trump and TikTok, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press briefing that the US was abusing the concept of national security, and urged it to stop oppressing foreign companies.
Reuters has reported that TikTok's prospective buyers were discussing four ways to structure an acquisition from ByteDance.
Within these, the company could still push ahead with a sale of TikTok's US assets without approval from China's Commerce Ministry by selling them without key algorithms.
ByteDance and its founder Zhang Yiming have been caught in a clash between the world's two pre-eminent powers.
Mr Trump last month issued two executive orders that require ByteDance to sell TikTok's assets in the US or face being banned in the country, where the app is immensely popular among teenagers.
US officials have criticised the app's security and privacy, suggesting that user data might be shared with Beijing.
TikTok has said it would not comply with any request to share user data with the Chinese authorities.
Beijing has said it firmly opposes Mr Trump's executive orders and, on Aug 28, moved to give itself a say in the process, revising a list of technologies that will need Chinese government approval before they are exported.
Experts said TikTok's recommendation algorithm would fall under this list.
Chinese regulators said recently that the rules were not targeted at specific companies, but they reaffirmed their right to enforce them.
REUTERS
