TikTok Could Face US Ban Unless Chinese Owners Sell Stake

The Biden administration is reportedly demanding that TikTok's Chinese owners sell their stake in the short-form video sharing app or it could face a possible U.S. ban.

tiktok logo
First reported by The Wall Street Journal, the demand is said to have come from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., a multiagency federal task force that oversees national-security risks in cross-border investments.

It is the latest move in a crackdown on the ByteDance-owned app, which has already been the target of government restrictions. In February, the Biden administration ordered federal agencies to remove TikTok from government devices, and dozens of state governments have since passed similar bans on the app.

TikTok has been in the cross-hairs of U.S. regulators for years, going back to the Trump administration's failed attempt to bar the app from U.S. app stores in September 2020. Concerns over the app have heightened in recent months after both Republicans and Democrats called for officials to impose stricter data collection restrictions or ban the app from the U.S. entirely.

In August 2022, ByteDance submitted a plan detailing how it plans to prevent the Chinese government from having access to data on U.S. users, and how it will offer the U.S. government oversight of the platform. However, discussions between TikTok and Washington on the issue have reportedly stalled.

In related developments, TikTok is set to be banned on phones used by British government ministers and civil servants, following a review by the U.K.'s National Cyber Security Center. Canada, Belgium, and the European Commission have already barred the app from government phones.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: TikTok

Popular Stories

Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
CarPlay Ultra Climate Controls

Apple Says These Vehicle Brands Plan to Offer All-New CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
iPhone 12 Made in India

Trump Tells Tim Cook to Stop Building iPhones in India

Thursday May 15, 2025 2:21 am PDT by
President Donald Trump has asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to halt the company's manufacturing expansion in India, in a potential disruption of Apple's plan to shift iPhone production away from China. "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, according to Bloomberg. "He is building all over India." "They [India] have offered us a deal where...
apple music

Apple Music Gets New Transfer Tool to Make Switching From Spotify Easier

Wednesday May 14, 2025 5:17 pm PDT by
Apple this week introduced a new feature designed to allow prospective Apple Music users to import their saved music and playlists from third-party music services to Apple Music. The feature is either in an expanded testing phase or it has started rolling out, and it is available in Australia and New Zealand according to an Apple Support document. Signs of the transfer option first surfaced...
maxresdefault

Here's the First Real-World Look at Apple's CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:52 am PDT by
The first videos of Apple's CarPlay Ultra experience are now available, providing a never-before-seen look at the long-anticipated iPhone-linked infotainment software. British automaker Aston Martin today shared the first video of Apple's CarPlay Ultra experience in-action, followed by a detailed walk-through of the CarPlay Ultra system on Top Gear's YouTube channel, which provides the...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.5 With New Wallpaper, Screen Time Changes, Carrier Satellite Support for iPhone 13 and More

Monday May 12, 2025 10:06 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5, the fifth updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that came out last September. iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 come a little over a month after Apple released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. The iOS 18.5 update has a...
fortnite apple logo 2

Epic Resubmits Fortnite to U.S. App Store After Not Hearing From Apple for 120+ Hours

Wednesday May 14, 2025 1:01 pm PDT by
On Friday, Epic Games submitted Fortnite to the U.S. App Store, and since then, we've been waiting to see if Apple would approve the game and allow it back on the iPhone and the iPad. There's been no word from Apple so far, but Epic Games opted to pull its first App Store review request, and has now resubmitted Fortnite. Fortnite leaker Shiina shared the news, with the information reposted by...

Top Rated Comments

wanha Avatar
28 months ago
How many Western social networks are allowed in China?

Zero.

I've always wondered why Western countries allow China to play by completely different rules.

It was high time for something like this.
Score: 90 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ApplesAreSweet&Sour Avatar
28 months ago

Why is it terrible?

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing but please tell me why its terrible?
TikTok is 1/1 following the recipe for behavioral addiction which is already having a detrimental impact on the predominantly developing brains that are using the app.

Yes, many apps and digital platforms exploit these vulnerabilities in the human brain/sensory system. But TikTok has taken it to an extreme.

They’ve done brain scans of Internet/video game/media addicts/phone(etc.) addicts and their brains patterns (reactions to visual input) shift away from normal brain patterns and get close to or completely identical to drug, sex or gamble addicts.

At its core, TikTok is essentially your classic slot machine but with perpetual visual/auditory stimulation that continuously adapts to show more of the content that gets the most watch time from the user.

If you think it’s completely benign that every person below 25 is glued to the same app for 6-12 hours a day then obviously I have no argument here.

My gripe with the app isn’t that it’s made by China but that it’s creating a generation of smartphone addicts.

TikTok would have been long gone before these privacy concerns if anyone listened to the research done on smartphones and behavioral addiction.

Have you ever read about the mice that get their brains wired up to a machine with a button they can press that releases dopamine in their bodies indefinitely without them having to move or do a single thing to get the “reward”? They press the button over and over again, more and more until they forget their other needs and their health withers away.

TikTok is an instantaneous, no effort, no payment dopamine trigger for humans that’s continuously being adapted to get better at making the user press the trigger again.

It’s completely terrible and I pray that ByteDance don’t sell their shares and that TikTok gets banned in the West permanently.
Score: 55 Votes (Like | Disagree)
maflynn Avatar
28 months ago
We're Americans and we only let American companies spy on us
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DMG35 Avatar
28 months ago
I do find it humorous that when the previous administration was looking to do this they were completely destroyed by the media as being "Xenophobic and Paranoid!!"

Current administration wants to ban it and the same media outlets are saying "yeah good idea!"
Score: 47 Votes (Like | Disagree)
madebybela Avatar
28 months ago
can they stop with the tricks and just ban it already. humanity will be better off for it.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Unggoy Murderer Avatar
28 months ago
I'm supportive of any move that'll hopefully lead to kids stop using this terrible app.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)