The Chinese government is complicating the U.S.government ordered sale of U.S. TikTok assets.
China on Friday introduced export restrictions on artificial intelligence technology, seemingly including the type that TikTok uses to choose which videos to spool up to its users. That means TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, would have to obtain a license to export any restricted technologies to a foreign company.
According to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives , the move is clearly directed at slowing down ByteDance’s deal negotiations in this game of high stakes poker. He explained that with TikTok’s key algorithm at play, ByteDance/TikTok will likely now need to go through a licensing procedure around the need to transfer software code from China to the US.
The Trump administration has threatened to ban TikTok by mid-September and ordered ByteDance to sell its U.S. business, claiming national-security risks due to that Chinese ownership. The government worries about user data being funneled to Chinese authorities. TikTok denies it is a national-security risk and is suing to stop the administration from the threatened ban.
