As US broadens TikTok battle, tech firms such as WeChat and Zoom might have to pick sides
- The Trump administration is making concerted efforts to hamstring all tech firms associated with China for fear they could divert American data to Beijing
- Forcing ByteDance’s short-video app out of the US market could set a painful precedent for other Chinese technology companies
As the Trump administration tries to force Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok to sell its US business, other tech companies associated with China may be forced to choose sides.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he was setting a 45-day deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American owner such as Microsoft before he bans the app from the US. Beijing decried the move, accusing the US of “hypocrisy”, and a state media editorial has likened it to “forcibly taking the child out of ByteDance’s arms”.
Handing over TikTok ownership to an American firm would put ByteDance out of the US market and force it to focus its growth elsewhere, a deal that could set a precedent for other Chinese tech firms.
“We are likely to see more actions in the very near term against leading Chinese technology companies,” said Paul Triolo of the Eurasia Group, a New York-based risk consultancy.
On Tuesday, Zoom Video Communications, the San Jose, California-based conference call provider, said it would halt direct sales in mainland China and operate with a partner-only model, which it said would help “provide better local support”.
Zoom’s move “means that the decision has been made that the company will focus on the US and Europe,” said Dong Jielin, a research fellow at Tsinghua University’s China Institute for Science and Technology Policy.