All the Apps ByteDance Operates in the US

Credit: Tang Yan Song/Shutterstock
TikTok’s future in the United States is totally up in the air. Should the United States government get its way, the app will be banned starting Sunday—though there may be ways to still use it. The Supreme Court could step in to save it, as could Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, or even incoming president Donald Trump. The only thing absolutely certain is that Congress, in concert with the Biden administration, wanted TikTok sold to an American company, or out of Americans’ hands.
The thing is, ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, owns and operates other apps within the U.S. None of these apps are currently in talks to be banned, but they all should, in theory, have many of the same concerns that caused the government to go after TikTok. ByteDance is based in China, and, as such, would be beholden to the Chinese government should the latter ask for the data of any American users.
In fact, the law that sets TikTok on the course to be banned on Sunday makes it clear no ByteDance app is safe. At the top of the law, it says the act’s goal is,