TikTok’s race to keep its operations going in the United States may face a further political hurdle after China imposed new restrictions on technology exports, reported the South China Morning Post.
The new rules, which will require government approval for the export of certain technologies, are likely to affect its Chinese parent company ByteDance. On Friday China’s Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology updated the list of technology exports that are banned or restricted for the first time since 2008.
Two articles are likely to affect ByteDance directly: Article 18, which covers some forms of artificial intelligence such as voice recognition, and Article 21, covering data analytics and content recommendation. Exports covered by the list will need prior permission from the Ministry of Commerce, which has 30 days to decide whether to give the go-ahead.
“ByteDance has a number of cutting-edge technologies in artificial intelligence and other fields, and some technologies may be covered by the adjusted list,” Cui Fan, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, told state news agency Xinhua on Saturday.