“Beijing’s aggressiveness makes clear that the regime sees TikTok as an extension of the party-state, and the U.S. needs to treat it that way,” Rubio said in a statement.
The Commerce Department is conducting a Biden-ordered review of security concerns posed by those apps and others. It did not respond to a request for comment. Corporate records show that the Chinese government took a stake and a board seat in a ByteDance entity this year – a move that raises questions over how much influence Beijing is planning to wield in a tech sector reeling under an onslaught of regulatory action.
It is held by WangTouZhongWen Technology, which is owned by three Chinese state entities including a fund backed by the country’s main internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China , government shareholder data shows.