WASHINGTON — The United States has told the Chinese owners of the video-sharing app TikTok that they must sell their shares or risk the app being banned in the U.S., people familiar with the matter said.
The Treasury Department is leading the discussion though the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or Cfius, and made the demand recently to Tiktok’s owner, ByteDance Ltd., the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.
TikTok’s leadership has been discussing the possibility of separating from ByteDance Ltd., its Chinese parent, to help address concerns about national security risks, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday. One person said TikTok’s owners could retain some form of ownership but through a passive structure.
