‘China would rather close TikTok than force sell’

The Chinese government would rather see TikTok shut down than sell the service to an American company. According to sources, the government would fear that China would be seen as weak if it meets the demands of the United States.

That reporting comes from Reuters; the news agency claims to have three unnamed sources that are aware of the situation. According to Reuters sources, the Chinese government would prefer to see Bytedance pull the plug on TikTok, rather than a forced sale. However, the Chinese government has not officially responded to the report, and Bytedance said in a response that it had not received any signals from the Chinese government that the US activities should be stopped.

The Trump administration wants ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations to an American company. Officially, it is a measure to prevent Americans’ personal information from being passed on to China, but the two countries are also embroiled in a trade war.

While there is interest from several US companies, owner Bytedance appears to be missing a deadline imposed by the US government. But according to Reuters sources, China would prefer to see the sale stop at all, because otherwise the country will lose face. A forced sale would be seen as a weakness and China would therefore consider discontinuing the service a better option.

Although no public statements have been made about the discontinuation of TikTok, the Chinese government has criticized the forced sale imposed by the US. At a press conference on Friday, a government official said the United States is abusing its reliance on national security to suppress foreign companies.