As had already happened when former President Donald Trump was in Washington, the Joseph Biden administration is also pressing for the ByteDance company, owner of TikTok, to stop having a high Chinese participation.
The United States speaks of national security problems, considering that the application is “highly permeable to Beijing.”
TikTok, of course, denies all this, saying that turning ByteDance’s subsidiary into a separate US company from the parent will not solve the problems.
Last week, the pressure escalated when the WSJ published an article in which He claimed that the United States gave TikTok an ultimatum: “sell or close”.
The move is a major shift in policy for the Biden administration, which has been widely criticized by the Republican opposition for not taking a tough stance on the platform.
The Republicans demand more pressure, like the one that, they say, Trump exerted when he was in the White House.
60% of ByteDance’s shares are owned by global investors, 20% by company employees and the other 20% by its founders.
The issue is that the founders are all Chinese, who not only have disproportionate voting rights but, according to Biden, can leak information to Xi Jingping.
TikTok, the CEO and crucial hours in the United States
The latest news regarding the soap opera “TikTok vs the United States” occurred this Tuesday, March 21, when the CEO of the short video application, Shou Zi Chew, stated that the company is facing a “turning point”.
He said it referring to his participation this Thursday in Congress in Washington, convened by US lawmakers who intend to ban the application for reasons of national security.
In a video Posted on Tik Tok, Chew said the app has more than 150 million monthly active users based in the United States. “Nearly half of Americans use TikTok,” said Chew, who will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Although he was not explicit in the video about threatening the United States, Chew said: “Some politicians talk about banning TikTok; but be careful, that would mean taking TikTok away from 150 million of you ”.
According to a report from BloombergIf the crisis continues, TikTok will have two other options in addition to selling the shares of Chinese owners: sell the entire company or go public through a public sale offer (IPO).
TikTok is estimated to be worth between $40 and $50 billion.
Now read:
Biden proposes more taxes on the rich to finance the health plan
OXXO will take care of your car; throw safe
These Olaplex products cause hair loss, according to class action lawsuit