Angela Lang / CNET
Chinese officials appear to have something to say about a TikTok sale to a US company. Two pieces of news from China could make potential buyers like Microsoft and Oracle wary.
China updated the country's export control rules on Friday to reflect what it believes are sensitive technologies, including possibly the popular video app's personalized recommendation engine, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
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And China's official Xinhua news agency posted a comment on Saturday that the new rules could mean that TikTok parent company ByteDance - a Chinese company - would have to get a license before it could be sold, according to the Times.
The news comes in the middle reports that a TikTok sale is imminentand it indicates China's desire to mandate the terms of a sale when the government there could not directly ban one, the Times said. It's also another punch in the ongoing sparring game between China and the Trump administration.
"It could be an effort to block sales entirely, or just raise the price, or create conditions to leverage China later," a Chinese economic policy specialist told the Times.
US President Donald cited national security fears Trump issued an executive order on August 6 Transactions with ByteDance or its subsidiaries would be prohibited. The order should go into effect 45 days after it was placed unless TikTok found a US buyer for its US operations. Trump later doubled that time frame, in a follow-up order dated August 14th.
Trump and others say they are concerned because TikTok is collecting data about its users, and those critics might say that the Chinese Communist government is being forced to share that information. TikTok has repeatedly said the fears are unfounded.
If the transaction ban went into effect, it would likely mean Apple and Google would no longer be able to list the app in their respective app stores.
So far, Microsoft, Oracle and "a third US company" have made offers for TikTok, Reported CNBC on Thursday. (Microsoft confirmed earlier this month that it was pursuing a deal for TikTok's operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.)
But the news about export control rules could make company buyers nervous, the Times reported, saying, "Beijing's displeasure alone could put off TikTok's applicants, many of whom are based in China."
Oracle declined to comment. Requests for comments were not immediately answered by Microsoft, ByteDance, TikTok, the White House or the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the USA.
