TikTok’s Evidence Reveals Founder Zhang Yiming’s Residency in Singapore
In the process of suing the U.S. federal government, TikTok provided evidence that one of the founders of its parent company ByteDance, billionaire Zhang Yiming, resides in Singapore but still holds Chinese citizenship.
In recent years, more and more U.S. lawmakers and security experts have expressed concerns that due to TikTok’s relationship with China (the CCP), the Chinese government might exploit ByteDance to access sensitive data of its current 170 million U.S. users or engage in political propaganda.
On April 23, the U.S. Senate passed a bill demanding that TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance sell the app, or face a ban. The next day, President Joe Biden signed the bill into law, initiating a 270-day countdown.
On Tuesday (May 7), TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance officially filed a lawsuit against the U.S., claiming that the U.S. law forcing TikTok to separate from its parent company or face a ban is “unconstitutional.”
According to Bloomberg, against the backdrop of tightened regulations in the Chinese tech industry and the impact of COVID policies, Zhang Yiming, along with many other business giants, relocated to Singapore. “Entrepreneurs closely related to the Asian financial center also include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd CEO Eddie Wu and crypto pioneer Wu Jihan, with Eddie Wu having obtained Singapore citizenship,” while Zhang Yiming has not.
In the lawsuit questioning the withdrawal or ban of TikTok, ByteDance stated that Zhang Yiming, a Chinese citizen residing in Singapore, currently owns about 21% of the shares of TikTok’s parent company, with the rest held by global investors and ByteDance employees.
Bloomberg reported that a few years ago, Zhang Yiming handed over the leadership of ByteDance to co-founder Liang Rubo, who now also works in Singapore. Other executives of ByteDance’s Chinese operations, including Zhang Lidong, responsible for commercialization, remain in China.
TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew is a Singaporean.
Reuters reported that both companies filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing that the laws against TikTok violate the protection of freedom of speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In their complaint, the two companies stated that the separation “is fundamentally impossible, commercially unfeasible, technologically implausible, and legally unattainable… without a doubt, the law will force TikTok to shut down by January 19, 2025, silencing 170 million Americans using the platform to communicate in ways not replicable elsewhere.”
According to Agence France-Presse, TikTok warned after the law took effect that it would use all possible legal means to oppose the law known as the “Safe America from Foreign Interference Act,” which aims to protect Americans from foreign hostile powers controlling applications.