TikTok Rival Bigo Shifts Servers From Hong Kong Amid US Scandal

Bigo Technology, a smaller rival of embattled Chinese appmaker ByteDance, is shifting servers from Hong Kong to Singapore, out of the reach of a new national security law at a time when it is seeking to emphasise its independence from its Chinese parent.

The move, which follows India’s ban on the firm’s apps during this year’s flare-up in hostilities between New Delhi and Beijing, comes as the United States toughens scrutiny of Chinese-owned firms in one of its most promising markets, reported Reuters. 

President Donald Trump has said the United States could exert more pressure on China-owned companies after threatening to ban ByteDance’s popular short-video app TikTok over concerns about the safety of the personal data it handles. 

Bigo, whose equivalent app, Likee, and live streaming app, Bigo Live, which competes with TikTok, has not been named by US authorities, but a senior official of the firm told Reuters it hoped “not to be caught in the crossfire.” 

“The unfortunate thing is sometimes we can’t control what other people think,” Mike Ong, vice president of government relations, said in an interview at the firm’s headquarters in the city state, where it was founded in 2014.

Full Content: Reuters

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