“The report by foreign media that ByteDance is considering selling TikTok is not true,” the statement said.
It emphasized that “ByteDance has no plans to sell TikTok”.
The head of “TikTok”, Zhou Shouzi, has indicated that the company will challenge the new law in court.
It has already been reported that the US Congress has adopted and President Joe Biden has signed a law that provides for banning “TikTok” in the United States, if “ByteDance” does not sell it.
The law stipulates that “ByteDance” must sell “TikTok” within nine months, but this period can be extended by another three months if a buyer has already been found and the sale process will take place.
Litigation could significantly delay the deadline set by Congress or block the law from taking effect.
Representatives of both Democrats and Republicans, as well as intelligence officials, have expressed concern that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over American user data to them or order the company to increase TikTok’s content that favors Beijing’s interests and restrict content it does not want. TikTok, which has 170 million users in the US, has denied claims it could be used as a tool of the Chinese government and has said it has not shared US user data with Chinese authorities.
The U.S. government has not publicly provided evidence that TikTok shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government or influenced the company’s algorithm that determines what U.S. users see.
Several US states have restrictions and bans on the use of “TikTok” on public institutions’ devices.
