We will not sell TikTok, China’s ByteDance resists US pressure

At the same time, foreign media are already merrily speculating about who could buy TikTok. This is probably one of the main reasons why the Chinese company issued an official statement on the whole matter.

“Foreign media reports discussing the sale of TikTok directly by ByteDance are not based on the truth,” the Chinese company said in a statement. At the same time, representatives of the company emphasized that “there are no plans to sell TikTok”, so ByteDance’s management is not considering this possibility at all.

US lawmakers have expressed concern that TikTok could provide US users’ data to the Chinese government. The fate of the platform subsequently became a significant topic in Washington. Lawmakers have faced calls in recent weeks from users expressing opposition to the proposed measure.

It won’t just be like that. US TikTok ban stalls legal battle

Software

Aid to Ukraine

Nevertheless, a law was passed this week that essentially allows TikTok to be banned. However, this one is not only aimed at the well-known video player app, it is called “Peace through Strength in the 21st Century Act”. Thanks to it, the US president will get the opportunity to adopt extensive sanctions against Iran and Russian officials, or allow the government to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.

“It’s unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using major foreign aid legislation as a cover to push through a bill that would trample on the free speech of 170 million Americans,” TikTok chief Shou Zi Chew fumed before Biden signed the bill.

With Biden’s signature, the nine-month period during which ByteDance must sell the TikTok network began to run. If the representatives of this Chinese giant did not do so, the application databases operated by Apple or Google could not provide TikTok at all in the US.

“Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere,” Shou Zi Chew said, adding that his company “will continue to fight for users’ rights in the courts.” He emphasized that the US Constitution is on the side of TikTok.

The new law allows the US government to ban other digital services with foreign owners at the same time.

Stop sign also in the Czech Republic

The use of the TikTok application on government devices has already been decided to be banned by all countries of the Five Eyes alliance, which brings together the intelligence agencies of the USA, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. A similar step was announced by Belgium, France and the European Commission.

“I proceeded to issue the warning based on a comprehensive analysis of information about the TikTok application, which we obtained both from public sources and from our allies,” said NÚKIB director Lukáš Kintr.

“The amount of data collected and its handling, combined with the legal environment in China and the growing number of users in the Czech Republic, give us no choice but to label TikTok as a security threat,” he added.

The warning also applies to the general public. “The warning does not differentiate between public and private sector users. What is crucial for me is whether a threat to a specific system could have a negative impact on the functioning of the Czech Republic and the safety of each of us,” added Kintr.

How TikTok works

TikTok is most popular especially among teenagers, who, according to some statistics, already use it more often than Facebook. Among the users of this Chinese social network, we can also find older generations.

The principle of this online service is very simple, it is based on very short videos that are played one after the other. It’s the same as if you were viewing posts on Facebook and the screen scrolled itself to more and more posts.

But instead of text, they play prime videos on TikTok, short recordings with a length of three to 60 seconds. And just such a short duration seems to be a recipe for success, because in the US the Chinese social network has even surpassed Snapchat and Instagram.

At first it was possible to record videos of only 15 seconds, later it was possible to publish up to three-minute clips. Video content can now be up to ten minutes long.

Although short videos are still popular, many users are able to spend several hours a day on TikTok.