The Chinese parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, announced Thursday that it had no intention of selling its application despite a new American law which requires it to cut its ties with the social network under penalty of ban in the United States.
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“Reports in the foreign press according to which ByteDance is considering selling TikTok are not true,” the company said on Toutiao, a platform it owns, adding that it “does not plan to sell TikTok.”
The US Congress considers that the application represents a threat to national security due to its links with the Chinese entertainment giant.
The Senate adopted a text on Tuesday, promulgated on Wednesday by President Joe Biden, which obliges ByteDance to sell TikTok within twelve months under penalty of exclusion from smartphone application stores on American territory.
Getty Images via AFP
The social network has been in the crosshairs of Washington for years, which suspects the application of being used to spy on Americans and collect personal information, but also of serving Chinese propaganda.
TikTok refutes these accusations, ensuring that it has never transmitted data on American users to Beijing and does not intend to do so.
“We will fight in the courts,” said TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew.
