TikTok is more likely to completely shut down in the US than not

The Senate officially passed new legislation that declares TikTok a national security threat, which forces the popular app's owner ByteDance to sell the software within 270 days.

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If ByteDance doesn't find a US government-approved buyer within the designated timeframe TikTok will be removed from both app stores. The reasoning behind the new classification of a national security risk is the US government believes that TikTok could be used to scrape data on 170 million Americans for China while also being an avenue to spread misinformation.

Due to ByteDance being a Chinese company the US government believes there's a good chance that TikTok is sharing its data on US citizens with the Chinese government, hence ByteDance being forced to sell the US version of the app to a US government-approved entity. However, The Guardian has reported that ByteDance would rather shut down the US app if it has exhausted all other legal options to fight the legislation that would remove it from US app stores.

Notably, one source close to the company said ByteDance is exploring the option of selling TikTok without its core algorithm, which provides users with a personalized "For You Page" based on the content they have interacted with on the app. ByteDance has deemed TikTok's core algorithm a core aspect of its overall operations, which would mean selling TikTok to a US-based company with the algorithm isn't likely.

Furthermore, ByteDance spoke to Toutiao, a media platform the company owns, and said that it has no plans to sell US TikTok, which was in response to an article penned by The Information that claimed ByteDance is considering selling TikTok without its core algorithm.