China state firms invest in TikTok sibling, Weibo chat app

News of the Chinese investment renewed some national-security concerns around TikTok in the US, where the video app has millions of users and is particularly popular with young people. — AP

The Chinese government has made investments in two of the nation’s most significant technology firms – ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns global video app TikTok, and Weibo, China’s version of Twitter – in a move apparently intended to bolster its sway over the nation’s flourishing technology sector.

In April, ByteDance sold a 1% stake in its Chinese subsidiary, Beijing ByteDance Technology Co, to WangTouZhongWen (Beijing) Technology, a state-backed firm, according to public government records and the corporate information platform Qichacha.