The Chinese company ByteDance will choose to shut down TikTok in the United States rather than sell the platform if it exhausts all legal methods to fight the US law banning the social network in the country. Reuters reported this with reference to knowledgeable sources.
According to them, the algorithms that TikTok relies on to operate are considered key to all of ByteDance’s operations, making a sale of the platform highly unlikely.
They also explain that TikTok accounts for a small share of ByteDance’s total revenue and daily active users. In view of this, the Chinese company would rather close the app in the United States than sell it to a potential American buyer in the worst case scenario.
The closure will have a limited impact on ByteDance’s business. In a statement on the Toutiao platform, the Chinese giant said that it has no plans to sell the social network. The announcement follows a report by The Information that ByteDance is exploring sale scenarios without the algorithm that recommends videos to TikTok users.
As a reminder, US President Joe Biden signed a law that will ban TikTok in the US if ByteDance does not sell the platform within a year.
Loading comments …