Reuters: ByteDance would prefer TikTok shutdown in the US instead of divesting

The US government approved the landmark national security package which was signed into law by President Joe Biden yesterday. The new regulation effectively gives TikTok parent company ByteDance an ultimatum to sell TikTok’s US business to a local company in the next nine months or face an effective ban on the platform.

Reuters is now reporting that ByteDance is not willing to sell off TikTok to a US company and would rather have its platform shut down. TikTok’s algorithms are deemed core to ByteDance’s operation making a potential sale of the platform non-viable. ByteDance will appeal the ban in court and hopes to block the recently passed legislation.

In related news, The Information issued a report claiming that ByteDance was looking at the possibility of selling a majority stake in TikTok without packaging in its algorithm. Those claims were later denied by ByteDance in a press release on Chinese media platform Toutiao.

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