US-China Cyber Hegemony Competition... TikTok US Ban Dispute

U.S. Senate Introduces TikTok Ban Bill
Service Sanctions for National Security Threats
ByteDance Asked to Sell Founder’s Shares
China Regulates to Prevent Sale of High-Tech Firms

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

In the United States, there is a growing movement to expel the Chinese video-sharing platform 'TikTok' on the grounds that it poses a threat to national security. U.S. authorities have demanded that TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, sell its U.S. operations, but the Chinese government has imposed regulations requiring official approval for the sale of advanced technology overseas, effectively blocking the move. As technological competition between the U.S. and China intensifies, a tug-of-war between the two countries over TikTok appears to be unfolding.

According to major foreign media on the 21st (local time), TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, ahead of his scheduled appearance at a U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the 23rd, emphasized in a written response that "TikTok has never shared U.S. user information with the Chinese government. The Chinese government has never requested such information."

He stated, "ByteDance is clearly not an agent of China or any other country," countering the U.S. government's claims that TikTok is handing over information to the Chinese government.

◆U.S. Demands TikTok Founder Sell Shares, Accuses Chinese Government of Receiving Data

Tony Evers, Governor of Wisconsin, USA, signed an executive order last January banning the use of the Chinese video-sharing platform 'TikTok' on smartphones and other electronic devices. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Recently, the U.S. has been pressuring TikTok to exit the market, viewing it as a threat to national security. On the 7th, the U.S. Senate introduced a bill (the Information and Communications Technology Risk Management Act) that would allow banning foreign information technology posing security risks.

The bill focuses on granting the U.S. government discretionary power to identify and sanction risks embedded in services and technologies of companies connected to adversarial countries such as China and Russia.

Should this bill take effect, it is expected that TikTok will effectively be forced out of the U.S. market. Currently, TikTok has 100 million users in the United States alone.

In response, ByteDance has spent two years trying to persuade the U.S. administration through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), but has failed to achieve meaningful results. U.S. authorities have demanded that ByteDance forcibly sell TikTok's U.S. operations and that the founder divest his shares.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 15th, CFIUS pressured TikTok to sell the shares held by its Chinese founders and warned that failure to comply could result in a ban on TikTok usage in the U.S. The WSJ explained that the Biden administration took this tough stance in response to opposition criticism that it was not responding strongly enough to TikTok's security threats.

◆China Retaliates Against U.S. Measures... Regulates Approval for Sale of Advanced Companies

Chinese President Xi Jinping [Image source=Yonhap News]

However, TikTok is in a position where it cannot meet the U.S. demands. The Chinese government has imposed regulations requiring official approval when selling overseas companies with advanced technology, effectively putting the brakes on U.S. pressure.

In 2020, when President Donald Trump took the strong step of demanding the sale of TikTok shares, China's Ministry of Commerce announced a "List of Export-Restricted Technologies," stating that companies with technologies in fields such as AI?including content recommendation and big data collection?must obtain government approval before being sold overseas.

Furthermore, on the 28th of last month, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly criticized the U.S. government's TikTok usage measures, stating that the U.S. is "abusing its national power to unfairly suppress foreign companies" and that "the world's number one country fears an app popular among young people."

Some analysts suggest that the conflict between the two countries over TikTok essentially stems from the technological hegemony competition between the U.S. and China. Major foreign media reported, "Prominent Silicon Valley investors and executives have formed an anti-China coalition to protect U.S. technological interests," and that "the U.S. and Chinese governments are engaged in a geopolitical tug-of-war over TikTok."