ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US over sale: Report
Al Jazeera
TikTok parent would rather have it shutdown in US than have it sold to a US buyer with algorithms, Reuters reported.
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer shutting down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the United States, Reuters reported citing four sources.
The algorithms TikTok relies on for its operations are deemed core to ByteDance overall operations, which would make a sale of the app with algorithms highly unlikely, the sources, who are close to the parent, said on Thursday.
TikTok accounts for a small share of ByteDance’s total revenues and daily active users, so the parent would rather have the app shut down in the US in a worst-case scenario than sell it to a potential American buyer, they said.
A shutdown would have limited impact on ByteDance’s business while the company would not have to give up its core algorithm, said the sources, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
ByteDance declined to comment.
