U.S. Threatens to Ban TikTok Unless Chinese Parent Company Divests Video App
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital Editor The White House has told TikTok that parent company ByteDance, the Chinese internet giant, must sell its ownership position in the popular video app or face a ban in the U.S., TikTok said on Wednesday.
The U.S. government made the demand citing national security concerns. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), which is an interagency group oversees national security risks led by the Treasury Department that has the authority to block foreign transactions involving U.S.
entities, “recently” demanded that ByteDance divest TikTok, per the Journal. Lawmakers in the U.S. (and other countries) perceive TikTok as a potential threat to user privacy and national security given the app’s Chinese ownership.
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