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By Brian Fung | CNN
The Biden administration has threatened to ban TikTok from the United States unless the app’s Chinese owners agree to spin off their share of the social media platform, TikTok acknowledged Wednesday evening.
The apparent ultimatum by a US multiagency panel known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) marks a possible turning point in the long-running negotiations between federal officials concerned about TikTok’s links to China and a wildly popular social media company with more than 100 million US users.
The recent divestiture request was first reported Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal; TikTok later confirmed to CNN that CFIUS had contacted the company, adding that it did not dispute the Journal’s report. But TikTok declined to discuss specifics of the US government’s request, including details around its timing.
“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said in a statement. “A change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.
