China said it would oppose US efforts to force the sale of TikTok, in a public rebuke of the Biden administration’s stance against Chinese ownership of the app.
The comments, made by China’s Ministry of Commerce on Thursday, came hours before TikTok’s chief executive was scheduled to testify before Congress for the first time, addressing mistrust of US lawmakers over China’s handling of US user data. from the popular short form video app.
A Commerce Ministry spokeswoman told a news conference that China will “strongly oppose” the sale of the app. Forcing such a transaction would “severely undermine the confidence of investors from a number of countries, including China, to invest in the United States,” she added.
Last week, news broke that the The Biden administration wanted TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the app or face a potential ban. The ultimatum came after negotiations between the White House and TikTok ownership over a less severe compromise.
US lawmakers and regulators fear that the Chinese government’s broad power over private companies in the country could allow authorities in Beijing to access US user data.
The Ministry of Commerce indicated that any sale involving the export of technology must be in accordance with Chinese laws. Beijing has been considering rules to protect China’s prized technologies from export, and TikTok’s most valuable technology, analysts say, is its recommendation algorithm.
TikTok submitted a proposal last year, called Project Texas, to allay national security concerns. TikTok would remain owned by ByteDance, but would place all US user-generated data on home servers operated and managed by Oracle, the software giant in Austin, Texas. Only US-based employees of Oracle and TikTok would have access to US user accounts and data, TikTok said.
Mr. Chew is expected to continue promoting the plan in his testimony before Congress, where lawmakers are expected to ask him tough questions about the company’s efforts to protect American user data, its ties to its Chinese parent company and the risks that the application may represent for adolescents and children.
In its written testimony Before the hearing, Mr. Chew said that ByteDance is a global company owned by international investors and employees. “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” he said.
TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
