Foreign Tech Company ByteDance Accuses Facebook of 'Plagiarism and Smear'

ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, accused Facebook of "plagiarism and smear" following continued pressure on its business in the U.S.

ByteDance did not dive into the details about the "plagiarism and smear" accusation on Facebook.

Late Sunday, ByteDance said it is "committed" to being a company that covers the whole globe but has faced "all kinds of complex and unimaginable difficulties," CNBC translated their Chinese statement.

They did, however, allude to "plagiarism and smear of competitor Facebook" in the statement. They also pointed to an "intense international political environment" and a conflict of different cultures.

According to Reuters, the statement from ByteDance was made on its official account on Jinri Toutiao, a news aggregator app that it also owns. The tech firm said its statement is mainly aimed at their local Chinese audience.

Facebook Accused ByteDance of Censorship

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shone a light on TikTok when he accused the app last year of censoring political protest. But TikTok has denied that claim.

CNBC reached out to Facebook for comment, but the tech giant has not yet replied.

The statement did not talk about the pressures on TikTok in the U.S.

According to Channel News Asia, the company is now in front of a sell-off for its most popular app TikTok. They were given 45 days to talk about a sale of their famous short video app to Microsoft Corp, said people with knowledge on the matter Sunday.

Before Microsoft could even confirm that it is in talks to buy TikTok, ByteDance had already released the statement.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke to President Donald Trump about their interest in buying TikTok operations in the U.S., and the tech giant is also thinking of a purchase of TikTok in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

"New Cold War"

This is not the first time TikTok has been in the heat with Washington. It has also faced accusations of scooping up American user data to send back to the Chinese government. Time and time again, the app has denied this claim.

Also, before the Microsoft sale announcement, the social media app was also under threat of a ban by Trump. Tensions have boiled between the U.S. and China, putting the sector caught in the middle.

Some have even dubbed the tensions a "new Cold War."

On the other hand, Facebook has been facing competitive pressures from TikTok.

It tried to create a rival product through Lasso. But Lasso did not take off well and was shut down last month. Lasso allowed users to record videos that are up to 15 seconds long and have music to come with it.

Facebook, however, is gearing up to launch a new short video product called Instagram Reels.

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, who was hired in May from Disney, called out Facebook last week.

Mayer said in a blog post that he thinks fair competition "makes all of us better," so he told those who want to launch competitive products to "bring it on." In the post, he pointed to Instagram Reels in particular.

There, he said Facebook's "other copycat" Lasso did not pan out well. He said Facebook made a move "designed to put an end to our very presence in the U.S."

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