HONG KONG: TikTok said it will exit the Hong Kong market within days, a spokesman told Reuters late on Monday, as other technology companies including Facebook Inc have suspended processing government requests for user data in the region.
The short-form video app owned by China-based ByteDance has made the decision to exit the region following China’s establishment of a sweeping new national security law for the semi-autonomous city. “In light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong,” a TikTok spokesman said in response to a Reuters question about its commitment to the market.
The company, now run by former Walt Disney Co executive Kevin Mayer, has said in the past that the app’s user data is not stored in China.