Chinese parent company ByteDance said Thursday that it has no plans to sell the social media platform, its first official response on the fraught issue since
Congress passed the bill this week as part of a wide-ranging foreign aid package to support Israel and Ukraine. It was approved by the House on Saturday, and by the Senate on Tuesday. On Wednesday, TikTok's CEO Shou Chew said the company would fight in the courts to stay online in the US.The Chinese government has previously said it strongly opposes a forced sale of TikTok, and has the legal ability to do so. It views TikTok's technology as highly valuable and has taken steps since 2020 to ensure it can veto any sale by ByteDance.
US lawmakers have long been concerned about Beijing's influence over the app. In particular, they worry that TikTok could share data with the Chinese government or manipulate content displayed on its platform. So far, there's little evidence to support these concerns.