Mutually assured destruction

31 August 2020 By Pete Sweeney Follow @petesweeneypro

Beijing has revised export controls to require approval for technologies ByteDance’s video app might need to run, complicating a forced sale underway. If the White House doesn’t blink, TikTok will probably die. China might prefer that to tolerating the ugly precedent being set.

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China late on Aug. 28 revised a list of technologies that are banned or restricted for export for the first time in 12 years. The new list adds 23 items, including services based on personal user data analysis and artificial intelligence interfaces.

State media on Aug. 29 published an interview with a trade expert who said the changes would apply to technology used by ByteDance’s short-form video app TikTok, which would complicate attempts to sell TikTok’s assets outside China before the White House shuts it down.

On Aug. 24 TikTok sued U.S. President Donald Trump's administration over his executive order banning transactions in the United States with the app.

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