TickTok warns that the US event stop will “set free word”

The House of Representatives in the United States has voted on Saturday to stop TikTok if the app owner does not sever ties with China.

The legislation has been part of a massive package of American foreign policies, including assistance to Ukraine.

The document could be transformed into law next week.

In recent months, American officials have sounded the alarm for the popularity of TikTok in the new generations.

They suspect that the company that owns TikTok, Bythedance, is linked to Beijing, though its officials reject those charges.

The platform officials have said that ByteDance “is not an agent of China, and no other state”, while ByteDance himself insists it is not a Chinese company, citing the fact that many large investment companies own 60 percent of its share.

If the bill is adopted on the following steps, the Byedance will have nine months to sell shares with the possibility of a postponement for another three months, if the sale is under way or will face a halt.

Founded in 2012 by Chinese entrepreneurs, ByteDance has affected the first major success with the Doyin short video app in China.

A year later, TikTok was launched, an international version.

This app was blocked in China, but then it was used by billions of users within five years.

Although the founders own only 20 percent of the ByteDance company's shares, they are the main controllers.

About 60 percent is owned by institutional investors, including large American companies like General Atlantic, Susquehanna and Sequoia Capital.

Three of the five board members are Americans.

However, the rise in Beijing power in private companies in recent years worries the US about how much China's Communist Party controls ByteDance and the data it possesses.

China has dismissed these concerns, considering it American. / REL