Is TikTok’s father or mother firm an agent of the Chinese language state?

A stand of TikTok (Douyin) at The First International Artificial Products Expo Hangzhou on October 18, 2019, in Hangzhou, China.

Enlarge / A stand of TikTok (Douyin) at The First Worldwide Synthetic Merchandise Expo Hangzhou on October 18, 2019, in Hangzhou, China. (credit score: Lengthy Wei | VCG | Getty Photographs)

Does the Chinese language authorities have officers inside TikTok’s father or mother firm, ByteDance, pulling the strings? And does the storing of knowledge from the favored social media app outdoors of China defend Individuals?

These questions seem to dominate the present pondering within the US over whether or not to ban TikTok if its proprietor, Chinese language expertise large ByteDance, refuses to promote the platform.

However for my part—solid via 40 years as a scholar of China, its political economic system, and enterprise—each questions obscure a extra attention-grabbing level. What’s extra, they recommend an important misunderstanding of the connection between state and personal enterprise in China.

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