One major obstacle to a potential sale of TikTok is its recommendation algorithm, which is an integral part of other products owned by parent company ByteDance.

Considering TikTok only brings in a small share of ByteDance’s total revenue and user base. Most of the revenue came from other apps, including Douyin, TikTok’s counterpart in the Chinese market. Additionally, TikTok’s daily share of unique users in the US is only 5% of the total number of all ByteDance’s apps.

Therefore, shutting down TikTok in the US is expected to have a minimal impact on the company’s operations and ensure that its underlying algorithm is protected from falling into unauthorized hands.

ByteDance responded to speculation about a potential sale without its recommendation algorithms by publishing a rebuttal on the Toutiao media platform.

Previously, the US president had signed a law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok by January 19.

Why is the US forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok?

TikTok is entirely controlled by China and can (and does) give away US user data upon request from Chinese authorities. Despite claims that the company has taken data protection measures in the US, the US government does not trust ByteDance and demands that the business be sold.