Chinese tech giant ByteDance says it is not planning to sell social media app TikTok after the US Senate votes to ban it if the company refuses to divest.
US lawmakers imposed the nine-month limit on national security grounds, claiming that TikTok may be used by the Chinese government for spying and propaganda as long as ByteDance controls it.
The Information, a tech-focused US news site, stated that ByteDance was considering selling TikTok without the sophisticated secret algorithm that suggests content to its more than one billion viewers worldwide.
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ByteDance denied that the company was looking into a sale.
"Foreign media reports about ByteDance exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue," the company posted Thursday on Toutiao, a Chinese-language platform it owns.
"ByteDance does not have any plans to sell TikTok."
TikTok has denied any relationship with the Chinese government, stating that it has not and will not share US customer data with Beijing.
TikTok claims to have invested around $1.5 billion on "Project Texas," which involves storing US customer data in the United States.
Critics argue that the data is only half the issue and that the TikTok recommendation algorithm, which is the "secret sauce" behind its success, must also be separated from ByteDance.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has stated that the business will fight against the new rule in court, although some experts feel that national security concerns may trump free expression protections for the US Supreme Court.
