Current:Home > MarketsWho owns TikTok? What to know about parent company ByteDance amid sell-or-ban bill for app -WealthX
Who owns TikTok? What to know about parent company ByteDance amid sell-or-ban bill for app
View
Date:2025-04-15 20:42:16
More than 170 million Americans use TikTok. For some, it’s a light-hearted social media app. For others, it’s a business. Since use exploded during the pandemic, TikTok has had a sweeping impact on American culture – as a search engine, a community hub and career-launcher.
But after Biden signed a sell-or-ban bill into law in late April, the popular app’s future is unclear. Critics are calling the measure a threat to free speech while supporters say it’s in the interest of national security.
Who owns TikTok?
TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a private global company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs. According to TikTok, about 60% of the parent company is owned by global institutional investors, 20% by the company’s founders and 20% by employees.
The app’s CEO is Shou Zi Chew, a Singaporean businessman.
When was TikTok made?
Before it was TikTok, the app was Musical.ly, a similar app popular among teenagers for lip-synching. Chinese entrepreneurs Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang launched Musical.ly in 2014, according to Vox. It was later acquired by ByteDance, which already owned Douyin, TikTok's Chinese counterpart. Douyin debuted in China in 2016.
TikTok absorbed Musical.ly in August 2018 to become the app we know today.
Is TikTok owned by China?
TikTok is not based in China – it's not even available for use in the country. Douyin is TikTok's Chinese mainland counterpart. TikTok has global headquarters in Los Angeles and Singapore.
ByteDance, however, was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs Zhang Yiming and Liango Rubo. It was registered in the Cayman Islands but is based in Beijing, the Associated Press reports.
As required by Chinese law, ByteDance has a media license that involves “an entity affiliated with the Chinese government” owning 1% of Douyin Information Service Co., Ltd.
Per China’s 2017 National Intelligence law, organizations must assist or cooperate with state intelligence work, according to AP. Another 2014 Counter-Espionage Law says “relevant organizations … may not refuse” evidence collection. Many U.S. lawmakers say the potential for Beijing to collect intelligence on U.S. users is too great a risk.
Testifying before Congress last year, Chew told Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J. that the company does not sell data to “any data broker.”
Is TikTok getting banned?
Not yet. The Senate passed a sell-or-ban TikTok bill with overwhelming support in April, which Biden quickly signed into law. The bill gives ByteDance nine months – with a possible three-month extension – to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a ban.
If the ban takes effect, the app will disappear from Apple and Google stores. It would still be available on previously downloaded phones, but because TikTok would not be able to update the app, it would eventually become unusable.
Even still, this might not stop TikTok users from accessing it. When India banned TikTok in 2020, users found workarounds like VPNs (virtual private networks) and changing their phone’s location.
TikTok and ByteDance filed a lawsuit in federal court in response, arguing that divestment from the parent company would not be possible and that an impending shutdown in January 2025 would silence 170 million American users. According to the petition, the Chinese government "has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States."
What is BookTok?Meet the corner of the internet changing the publishing industry
Just Curious for more? We've got you covered.
USA TODAY is exploring the questions you and others ask every day. From "How to go live on TikTok" to "How to recover deleted text messages?" to "What does 'camp' mean?" – we're striving to find answers to the most common questions you ask every day. Head to our Just Curious section to see what else we can answer for you.
veryGood! (696)
Related
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- San Antonio police say couple safe after kidnapping; 2 charged, 1 suspect at large
- Pratt Industries plans a $120M box factory in Georgia, with the Australian-owned firm hiring 125
- ‘Stop Cop City’ activists arrested after chaining themselves to bulldozer near Atlanta
- Small twin
- As Climate-Fueled Weather Disasters Hit More U.S. Farms, the Costs of Insuring Agriculture Have Skyrocketed
- 'Merry Christmas': Man wins $500k from scratch-off game, immediately starts handing out $100 bills
- YouTuber Ruby Franke and her business partner each charged with 6 counts of aggravated child abuse
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Fugitive killer used previous escapee's 'crab walking' breakout method: Warden
Ranking
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- As U.S. warns North Korea against giving Russia weapons for Ukraine, what could Kim Jong Un get in return?
- Judge halts California school district's transgender policy amid lawsuit
- Philanthropies pledge $500 million to address 'crisis in local news'
- Average rate on 30
- Alabama teen sentenced to life for killing 5 family members at 14
- Three 15-year-olds die when car crashes into vacant home in suburban St. Louis
- Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a Syrian refugee, began its journey across the US in Boston
Recommendation
Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund
'Merry Christmas': Man wins $500k from scratch-off game, immediately starts handing out $100 bills
Australian minister says invasive examinations were part of reason Qatar Airways was refused flights
11-year-old boy to stand trial for mother's murder
Scoot flight from Singapore to Wuhan turns back after 'technical issue' detected
Prosecutors to seek Hunter Biden indictment from grand jury before Sept. 29, special counsel David Weiss says
Madison Keys feels 'right at home' at US Open. Could Grand Slam breakthrough be coming?
Simone Biles Shares Hope to Return for 2024 Olympics After Experiencing Twisties in Tokyo