The House on Wednesday approved a bill that requires ByteDance to divest TikTok within roughly six months in order for the app "to remain available in the United States."A key issue is the app's "secret sauce" — its algorithm — which could need a technology export license granted by China to be part of a deal, experts said.
Lawmakers in the U.S. are also concerned about the short video app's alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party, "Any kind of divestiture and then merger with another company or acquisition would have to be approved by the Chinese government, which would probably reject that and is probably advising ByteDance that it would reject that."Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Thursday that the U.S. bill is "at odds with the principles of fair competition and international trade rules," according to an NBC News translation.
Last year, when CFIUS told ByteDance to sell TikTok, China's Shu addressed this, saying a divestiture or sale would effectively mean exporting this technology, which must go through administrative licensing procedures.