video app
Media: US government calls for change of ownership at Tiktok
The US government is demanding that Chinese shareholders exit Tiktok. photo
© Michael Dwyer/AP/dpa
A good two years ago, Donald Trump failed in an attempt to bring the video app Tiktok under Western control. Now the White House under Joe Biden is making a new attempt. The pressure on Tiktok is also increasing in Europe.
According to media reports, the US government is again seeking a change of ownership for the popular video app Tiktok. The “Wall Street Journal” and the website “The Information” wrote, among other things, that they demand that Chinese shareholders get out.
Concerns about national security were given as the reason. Tiktok replied that a change of ownership would not change the data flows. After the EU Commission, the British government also banned the app on company cell phones on Thursday.
The call for a change in ownership of Tiktok reportedly came from the government body Cfius (Committee on Foreign Investment in the US), which scrutinizes foreign investments in the US.
Tiktok itself emphasized that it does not see itself as a subsidiary of a Chinese company, since Bytedance is 60 percent owned by western investors and has its official headquarters in the Cayman Islands. Critics point out that the Chinese founders held 20 percent of the control thanks to higher voting rights and that Bytedance has a large headquarters in Beijing. A further 20 percent lies with the employees.
US fears for their safety
In the US, both Republicans and US President Joe Biden’s Democrats have expressed concern that Chinese authorities and intelligence agencies could use Tiktok to gather information about Americans or influence them. Tiktok, with more than a billion users, is the only large online platform that is also successful in the West that does not come from the USA.
Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump had already tried to force the sale of Tiktok’s international business with a threat of a ban in 2020, but was stopped in court. US judges questioned the legal basis for the action. However, a bill is currently on the way in the USA that would give the White House far-reaching powers to do so.
Tiktok has been trying for months to convince the US government with a model in which data is stored on servers in the US and access to it is to be monitored by American technology partners. Part of this “Project Texas” is that the Tiktok app is first checked by the software giant Oracle for every update before users can download it.
Tiktok argued Thursday that the best way to address national security concerns is through transparent, US-based protections of US users’ data and systems. This also includes reliable monitoring, review and verification by third parties, which is already being implemented, a spokesman wrote.
Pressure is growing in Europe
Tiktok also proposed a similar model with three data centers in Ireland and Norway for Europe under the name “Project Clover”. The EU Commission recently banned the app from employees’ work cell phones several weeks in advance.
In London, Minister Oliver Dowden said on Thursday: “We will ban Tiktok on government devices with immediate effect.” This is a precautionary measure. Tiktok is already rarely used within the government. “It has become clear that there is a risk that certain platforms could access and use sensitive government data.” In the future, only the use of apps from a specific list should be permitted on the devices. A spokesman for Tiktok was disappointed with the decision. The bans are based on “fundamental misunderstandings” and geopolitical developments, it said.
The financial service Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing informed people, that Tiktok is considering a spin-off from Bytedance as a last option. Tiktok boss Shou Zi Chew told the Wall Street Journal that he and Bytedance had considered an IPO, but there are currently no concrete plans for it. The top manager is scheduled to be questioned at a hearing in the US Congress next Thursday.