Recently, the Taiwanese government banned its departments from using Chinese-owned social media platforms. Since then, TikTok has been scrutinized on several grounds in Taiwan. Simultaneously, the Taiwanese government opened an investigation into TikTok parent company ByteDance for suspected illegal commercial operations on the island following a media report.
Taiwan’s China-policy-making Mainland Affairs Council mentioned in a statement recently that they first suspected ByteDance operating a subsidiary to tout for business on the island on December 9th. While responding to the media, the council’s working group mentioned that there indeed was an alleged breach of the law referring to what the media report had called the company’s “illegal commercial operations”, which the legal authorities are now investigating.
According to the newspaper, the ByteDance has set up a subsidiary to expand its business on the island, which is already illegal according to Taiwanese law passed three years ago. The law does not allow Chinese social media platforms to open commercial operations on the island.
Besides, Taiwan restricts many of Beijing’s business operations, including its social media platforms, to its highly sought-after chip manufacturing industry. Taiwan has also accused China of using social media to spread disinformation on the island that Beijing claims as its territory.
