ByteDance has no sale plans for TikTok, media report untrue: internal note

The company was considering a TikTok stake sale over security concerns raised by officials in Washington, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Updated - December 24, 2019 02:25 pm IST

Published - December 24, 2019 10:39 am IST - Beijing/Shanghai

The Chinese technology company is seeking to provide assurances to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that personal data held by TikTok, which is widely popular with U.S. teenagers, is stored securely in the United States.

The Chinese technology company is seeking to provide assurances to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that personal data held by TikTok, which is widely popular with U.S. teenagers, is stored securely in the United States.

Chinese social media firm ByteDance has no plans to sell part or all of its TikTok app, the short video platform's head said on Tuesday, denying a media report which said the company was currently weighing options to do so due to U.S. concerns.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that the company was considering a TikTok stake sale over security concerns raised by officials in Washington.

“From time to time you may read stories in the media that are not true. Today there is an inaccurate report claiming that ByteDance has considered selling part or all of TikTok,” Alex Zhu said in an internal company note seen by Reuters.

“We went on the record saying it was not true, but they decided to publish it anyway. I want to assure you that we have had no discussions with potential buyers of TikTok, nor do we have any intention to.”

A ByteDance spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

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