ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, has stated that it has no plans to sell the popular video app, despite a new US law that would require it to do so or face a ban in America.
In a post on its Toutiao social media platform, ByteDance firmly declared, “ByteDance doesn’t have any plans to sell TikTok.”
Earlier this week, TikTok had announced that it would legally challenge the “unconstitutional” law passed by the US. However, TikTok has not yet provided any additional comments to the BBC’s request for a statement on the matter.
According to ByteDance, the reports from foreign media outlets about the company exploring the sale of TikTok’s US operations, excluding the core algorithm that powers the app, are false.
In a post on its Toutiao social media platform, ByteDance directly addressed these rumors, stating “Foreign media reports of ByteDance selling TikTok are not true.” The post included a screenshot of the article in question, with Chinese text overlaid that translates to “false rumor.”
This statement from ByteDance comes in direct response to an article published by the technology industry website The Information, which had suggested that the Chinese parent company was considering a partial sale of TikTok’s US business.
The measure requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to either sell the platform or face a ban in the US was signed into law by President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
This development has raised concerns in the US and other Western countries about the level of control the Chinese Communist Party exerts over ByteDance and the user data it holds. ByteDance has repeatedly denied claims that the Chinese government has control over the company.
In a video message addressed to the TikTok community, the platform’s CEO Shou Zi Chew expressed confidence that they will prevail in the legal challenge against the “unconstitutional” law. He assured users that “the facts, and the Constitution, are on our side” and that TikTok “isn’t going anywhere.”
According to TikTok’s disclosures, ByteDance’s Chinese founder owns a 20% stake through a controlling interest, while around 60% is held by major US investment firms. The remaining 20% is owned by ByteDance employees globally, and three of its five board members are American.
The Chinese government has dismissed these concerns as “paranoia” and warned that a TikTok ban would “inevitably come back to bite the US.” However, the new law provides ByteDance a deadline of up to 12 months, extending into 2025, to complete the sale of the US operations before potential enforcement of the ban.
