- author, joao da silva
- role, business reporter
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TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance said it has no intention of selling the business after the United States passed a law forcing it to sell the hugely popular video app.
“ByteDance has no plans to sell TikTok,” the company posted on its official account on social media platform Toutiao, which it owns.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.
Earlier this week, TikTok announced it would challenge the “unconstitutional” law in court.
ByteDance’s statement came in response to an article in tech industry website The Information that said the company was considering the possibility of selling its U.S. business without the algorithms that power TikTok. He said there was.
“The reports in foreign media that ByteDance sells TikTok are not true,” the company said in the post, and also posted a screenshot of an article stamped with the kanji for “false.”
The divestment or ban bill was signed by US President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
The Chinese government’s tightening grip on private companies has raised concerns in the United States and other Western countries about the degree of control the Chinese Communist Party has over ByteDance and the data it holds. There is.
TikTok has repeatedly denied claims that the Chinese government controls ByteDance.
“We are confident and will continue to fight for your rights in court,” TikTok boss Shou Zi Chu said in a video posted to the platform this week.
“The facts and the Constitution are on our side… Rest assured, we’re not going anywhere.”
According to TikTok, ByteDance’s Chinese founder owns 20% of the company through a controlling stake.
Institutional investors such as major US investment companies Carlyle Group, General Atlantic, and Susquehanna International Group own approximately 60% of the company.
The remaining 20% is owned by employees around the world, with three of ByteDance’s five board members being American.
The Chinese government also dismissed such concerns as paranoid, warning that a ban on TikTok would “inevitably come back to haunt the United States.”
However, TikTok is not facing an immediate ban in the US.
The new law gives ByteDance nine months to sell the business and an additional three months before the ban is triggered.
That means the deadline for the sale will most likely occur sometime in 2025, after the winner of the 2024 presidential election takes office.
