Bloomberg Law
Aug. 4, 2020, 9:30 AM

ByteDance CEO Says Trump’s Real Goal Is to Kill Off TikTok

Zheping Huang
Zheping Huang
Bloomberg News

A U.S. investigation into ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok is really intended to smother a Chinese-owned app that’s become a sensation with Americans, founder Zhang Yiming told employees in China Tuesday.

In his second missive to the troops in as many days, the billionaire entrepreneur said a government probe into the company’s 2017 purchase of Musical.ly, -- TikTok’s progenitor -- was intended to spur a complete shutout. Escalating U.S.-China tensions had prompted American politicians to warn that the app posed a potential national security threat and call for an investigation into whether U.S. user data was being shared with Beijing, accusations that ...

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