Chinese social media giant ByteDance confirmed on Tuesday that it won't be selling part of its popular short video platform app TikTok. The social media firm rubbished earlier reports of the company contemplating sale of part of TikTok. A day earlier there was media report that ByteDance was planning to sell off part of TikTok owing to US concerns.
TikTok is extremely popular with teenagers but it has lately come under the scanner of US regulators on concerns over safety of personal data of the users. ByteDance since then has been somewhat under pressure to assure US regulatory authorities about the reliability of the app and the steps it takes towards safety of user data.
ByteDance clears the air
On Monday, there was media report that ByteDance was weighing options to sell part of TikTok on US concerns. However, the short video platform's head said that it has no such plans. According to Reuters, TikTok head Alex Zhu in an internal company note said, "From time to time you may read stories in the media that are not true. Today there is an inaccurate report claiming that ByteDance has considered selling part or all of TikTok."
Zhu's comments definitely put an end to speculation about part of TikTok getting sold off. A ByteDance spokesperson further confirmed that there has been "no discussions about any partial or full sale of TikTok" and the rumours are completely "meritless". That said, ByteDance has taken steps to separate TikTok from the rest of its Chinese operations in order to reassure authorities.
Chinese companies come under US scrutiny
An increasing number of Chinese tech companies have come under the scanner of US regulators over concerns of data security. TikTok is one of the recent Chinese apps that have been facing regulators concerns in the United States.
The US Committee on Foreign Investment has been looking into ByteDance's $1 acquisition of social media app Musically in 2017. The acquisition of Musically played a major role in TikTok's popularity. Since then TikTok has been under the scanner of the authorities.
ByteDance has been trying to safeguard TikTok lately and its decision to separate the app from all its Chinese operations is in a bid to assure the US regulators that personal user data stored with the company is absolutely secure in America.
