Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Thad McBride commented on the potential merger between short-form video app platforms TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, and Musical.ly, a U.S.-based company. The merger has garnered scrutiny following an investigation into ByteDance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). In the last few months, ByteDance has taken steps to disassociate itself from its Chinese origins.

Despite these efforts, Thad believes that, “in the current landscape, with tension between the U.S. and China, and with this administration, I don’t think CFIUS is going to approve the TikTok deal.” Thad also suggested that some sort of mitigation, such as installing a U.S. person to protect against disclosure of U.S. nationals’ personal data, could ease CFIUS concerns.

The full article, “ByteDance Tries For Metamorphosis,” was published June 21 by The Wire China and is available online (subscription required).