Biden administration officials presented Bytedance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, with two options: to spin off TikTok and sell it to American buyers or else they would be subject to a US ban.
Summary
Biden administration officials presented Bytedance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, with two options: to spin off TikTok and sell it to American buyers or else they would be subject to a US ban.
- According to the Wall Street Journal, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), a multiagency task force overseeing national security risks, made the demand to TikTok’s Chinese owners recently in “a major policy shift on the part of the administration.”
- The Journal noted “it wasn’t immediately clear what the next step by the US would be, and the people familiar with the matter say a resolution could be months away.”
- TikTok officials later confirmed that their leadership had met with CFIUS and did not dispute the Wall Street Journal’s reporting. CFIUS and TikTok have been in negotiations for more than two years to look for a way for the app to continue to operate in the US.
- Republicans and Democrats alike have been pressuring the administration to take action on TikTok, even though TikTok’s customer base skews towards younger voters who typically favor Democrats. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo admitted the decision came with political risks for the administration, earning her a rebuke from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
- “A lot of Democrat candidates, a lot of Democrat officeholders have TikTok accounts,” Rubio told Fox News. “Democratic political operatives believed that TikTok is politically advantageous for them. And so they kind of want to look tough on China, but they don’t want to crack down on this website.”
- TikTok dismissed the effectiveness of any ownership transfer on data security and insisted Chinese ownership was not a threat to US national security. “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said in a statement.
- The Biden administration’s ultimatum marks the first time that a potential ban on TikTok, which has 100 million US users, has been raised. Former President Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but his efforts were stymied by the courts.
- TikTok claimed in a statement to CNN that changing ownership wouldn’t affect data security. “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan told CNN. “A change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.”
- NPR observed any American acquisition of TikTok would require signoff from Chinese Community Party officials, who have long opposed the idea. The Biden administration proposal is likely to face legal challenges, just like the Trump efforts to ban TikTok in 2020.
- The New York Times wrote the demand for sale shows the Biden White House is taking a tougher approach to China and “harkens back to the position of former President Donald J. Trump.” The Times noted the American Civil Liberties Union recently came out against banning TikTok on First Amendment grounds.
- The Washington Examiner called the move “a notable shift in policy from the Biden administration.” The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States was the interdepartmental agency charged with dealing with Bytedance during this process.
- The New York Post noted the Biden administration’s decisions comes after more than two years of negotiations between the Committee on Foreign Investment and TikTok over data security requirements. TikTok claims to have spent more than $1.5 billion on data security in recent years.
- Breitbart observed the Biden administration’s ultimatum comes a week after the White House backed a bill working its way through Congress that would allow the federal government to ban TikTok. The White House backed the Senate’s version soon after it was released, and a separate but similar bill is under consideration by the House of Representatives.
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© Dominic Moore, 2023
