On Friday, Chinese officials amended rules that govern the sale of certain types of technology to foreign buyers. The updated list includes data processing, speech and text validation as per government instructions.
This is the first time since 2008 that the rules have been amended. China’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology said the changes were aimed at “formalizing the operation of technology exports” and “securing national security.”
The instructions did not name Tiktok or its Beijing-based owner, Bitdance, but experts said the rule change would require Bitdance to seek government permission before selling tickets to a foreign company.
The state-run news agency Xinhua quoted a trade expert over the weekend as saying the research would cover ticket sales. Bytensce said on Sunday he was aware of the new rules, and would “strictly adhere” to them.
U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order this month, pending the end of the bytendance in the U.S. next week. Sales began threatening to ban the app until the operation was sold. Trump and other U.S. politicians have said the app is a threat to national security. Ticket OK, however, has denied the allegations and has sued the Trump administration over the order, calling it “extreme politicization.”
The app already has a handful of potential buyers, including Micro .ft (MSFT) And Walmart (WMT), Who said they are participating in negotiations on a possible deal. Tech pay firm Oracle (ORCL) The report is also of interest.
The pressure on ticketing is overwhelming right now. Last week, CEO Kevin Meyer resigned after less than four months in the job, citing the “sharply changed” political climate.
China’s change in its export control rules is one way for the country “To take some advantage of the situation,” said Anupam Chandra, a law professor at Georgetown University.
“It will stop any bidder and it will be amazing how to proceed,” he added.
– Steven Jiang and Selena Wang contributed to this report.
