TikTok Could Split With China's ByteDance To Avoid US Ban: Report

Social media app TikTok could split with China's ByteDance to avoid getting banned in the United States as concerns about national security risks continue to mount.

TikTok is reportedly considering a divestiture if the company's existing proposal with national security officials doesn't get approved, according to people familiar with the matter interviewed by Bloomberg.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is currently reviewing the social media company for national security.

Lawmakers have already proposed multiple bills with bipartisan support, calling to ban the video-sharing app.

TikTok, for its part, agreed last year to implement several measures to address U.S. officials' security concerns. Lawmakers are reportedly concerned that the app may be forced to share data with the Chinese government or could be used as an influence tool by China, per Bloomberg.

The plan, dubbed "Project Texas" by the company, includes bringing in American tech giant Oracle Corp. to host U.S. user data and review its software and appointing a three-person government-approved oversight board, the outlet reported.

"Neither a ban of TikTok nor a divestiture of TikTok from ByteDance does anything to address national security concerns about data transfers," Brooke Oberwetter, a spokesperson for TikTok, said, per Bloomberg. "Under Project Texas, TikTok data for our U.S. users would be held to a significantly higher security standard than any comparable American company."

CFIUS has reportedly stalled in its process, leaving TikTok unsure of whether its plans will be sufficient to continue operating in the U.S., according to the outlet's sources.

Meanwhile, members of the committee from the Justice Department have reportedly been unwilling to accept TikTok's proposal, the sources said.

TikTok and CFIUS have been negotiating for more than two years already on data security requirements.

In February, lawmakers urged CFIUS to conclude the investigation on TikTok.

"We write with profound concern regarding the risks that TikTok poses to our national security and to consumer privacy, and to urge the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to swiftly conclude its investigation and impose strict structural restrictions between TikTok's American operations and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, including potentially separating the companies," Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary and CFIUS Chair Janet Yellen.

"TikTok has failed to implement adequate protections in the four years since it acquired the app, despite continued assurances to the contrary," the senators added. "At a minimum, CFIUS should ensure that executive decision making about the platform is based in the United States and fully free from coercive influence from Beijing."

The U.S. government launched the national security review in 2019 after ByteDance acquired the social media app Musical.ly for $1 billion, Reuters reported.