TIKTOK CEO SHOU Zi Chew will fight for the survival of the hugely popular video-sharing app in the US today, as he faces skeptical Washington lawmakers over the company’s alleged ties to the Chinese government.
A ban would be an unprecedented act on a media company by the US government, cutting off 150 million monthly users in the country from an application that has become a cultural powerhouse — especially for young people — and the nation’s most viewed source of entertainment after Netflix. Despite his assurances, the cards in Washington seemed to be dealt against Chew, with several pieces of legislation, including one bill backed by the White House, already paving the way for a ban of the app.
During that battle, a potential sale to Microsoft or spinoff to Oracle never got off the ground due to the opposition of China.