According to an exclusive Reuters report, ByteDance, the parent company owner of social media giant Tiktok, they would rather shutdown their app or face the ban in the US market than sell the app to a potential (US) American buyer.
In a detailed report from Reuter tackles ByteDance stance. First, Tiktok’s algorithm is considered as their core key feature and they also considered it as their “secret source” most valuable assets and even better than their domestic rivals such as Tencent and Xiaohongshu.
Second, Tiktok is only accounted for only a very small portion of ByteDance total revenue that will not significantly impact their business.
Also, as easy it may sound but separating their core algorithm tech from TikTok U.S. assets would be extremely difficult and complicated procedure for them, and ByteDance won’t likely to consider that option at this point.
“China will firmly oppose it (the forced sale of TikTok),” said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce at a news conference in Beijing in late March 2023.
“The sale or divestiture of TikTok involves technology export and must go through administrative licensing procedures in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations.”
ByteDance didn’t give a direct comment about the situation, but last Thursday (April 25), they mentioned on Toutiao, a platform they run in China, that they are looking into other ways they might sell TikTok’s U.S. business without giving away the algorithm that suggests videos to users.
No big deal. The Chinese Government did not allow USA apps like Facebook, Google, Instagram, etc. in China. Where is the freedom of expression there? They “pirated” app equivalents in China. So really not a ban or freedom of expression issue as “manipulated” by Chinese government.