TikTok Tells Staff That Strategy Stays the Same After House Vote

(Bloomberg) -- TikTok told employees the company isn’t planning to change its approach to protecting user data even after US lawmakers passed a bill to ban the app in the country unless its Chinese owner sells it.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Putin Says Ukraine Deal Requires Security Pledges for Russia

• Millennium Trader Scored $40 Million Windfall in Egypt FX Plunge

• Biden’s Best Shot Against Trump Lies in ‘Blue Wall’ States

• SpaceX Starship Nears Orbit, But Is Lost Before Return to Earth

• An $80 Billion Crash in India’s Small Caps Flashes Warning Signs

“Our strategy remains the same — we continue to believe that the best way to address concerns about national security is with transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems with robust third-party monitoring, vetting and verification,” the company said in a memo to employees that was reviewed by Bloomberg.

TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance Ltd., declined to comment further.

Read more: Why TikTok Faces a US Ban Over National Security: QuickTake

The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the measure with wide bipartisan support. The vote was the most serious challenge yet to the widely popular short-video app used by 170 million Americans that lawmakers and politicians see as a national-security threat. The bill now faces a less certain future in the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has so far declined to endorse it, and members including Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky have come out against it.

In the memo, TikTok reiterated its plans to lobby the Senate not to pass the legislation.

The company is “disappointed” that the House passed the bill, according to the memo. “While we anticipated the outcome, I want to reemphasize that the Committee and the House votes are the beginning (not the end) of a long process,” the memo said.

Read more: These Are the Biggest Questions Now Facing TikTok: QuickTake

TikTok intends to exhaust all legal challenges before it considers any kind of divestiture from its parent company, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg this week.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• Gold-Medalist Coders Build an AI That Can Do Their Job for Them

• America’s Plumber Deficit Isn’t Good for the Economy

• Make Up or Break Up: Will Trump and Musk Merge?

• Academics Question ESG Studies That Helped Fuel Investing Boom

• Luxury Postnatal Retreats Draw Affluent Parents Around the US

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.