TikTok is facing a direct challenge to continuing to operate in the US. The Biden administration is reportedly demanding the sale of TikTok from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or it will be banned. Demand was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and then by New York Times.
The White House threat is an escalation from limited ban and pending legislation has been around for a while. In late February, the Biden administration said federal agencies would have 30 days to remove TikTok from government devicesand similar restrictions have spread across dozens of US states.
One bill introduce earlier this month will give the Commerce Secretary the ability to ban foreign companies from operating in the United States if there are national security threats — a major reason some elected officials have said TikTok should be banned. TikTok says user data is not stored in China and has propose an agreement with the US government that would keep US operations away from ByteDance to mitigate their concerns. The Wall Street Journal report In December, negotiations between TikTok and Washington stalled and the future of the deal seemed uncertain.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment The Verge.
