TikTok sues the US government over ban

> Third, the Chinese government has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States. Like the United States, 5 China regulates the export of certain technologies originating there. China's export control rules cover "information processing technologies" such as "personal interactive data algorithms." China's official news agency has reported that under these rules, any sale of recommendation algorithms developed by engineers employed by ByteDance subsidiaries in China, including for TikTok, would require a government license.

Number one, saying that the US government is being unfair because your company is bound by strict regulation by another government is not going to win you any sympathy.

But, more importantly, doesn’t this imply that ByteDance (China) maintains the algorithm, and the US subsidy doesn’t really have any of their own algorithms? Isn’t that at-odds with what TikTok US previously said? This seems to be a legal document saying that no US company may own the algorithm without a license. Doesn’t the US subsidy have a license? If so, that should transfer to the new owners of the US entity. But if it doesn’t have a license… then that sort of makes the US government’s case for them.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40287519