TikTok sale: ByteDance applies for China tech export licence amid uncertainty over Oracle-Walmart deal
- TikTok-owner ByteDance has applied for a technology export licence to comply with China’s recently revised tech export rules, it says
- The Beijing-based company earlier said the proposed deal with Oracle and Walmart does not involve the transfer of any technologies
The company has submitted an application to Beijing’s municipal commerce bureau and is awaiting a decision, it said in a statement posted on its news aggregator Jinri Toutiao late on Wednesday night.
China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed at a press conference on Thursday afternoon that Beijing’s Municipal Commerce Bureau had received the tech export licence application from ByteDance. “We will process it according to the relevant laws and regulations,” ministry spokesman Gao Feng said.
It is unclear when exactly ByteDance applied for the licence, and the Beijing-based company did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said last month that government approval for restricted exports would take up to 45 working days, so if the process was started on Wednesday it may not receive a decision until the end of November, according to the Post’s calculations.
This means that potential approval may not come before Trump’s deadline of November 12, after which the short video app may face further restrictions if a deal is not reached.