Coatue’s Laffont Says U.S. and China Need to Provide Clarity on TikTok

Two big shareholders in ByteDance made their first public comments on the political challenges facing that company’s subsidiary TikTok on Tuesday. Coatue Chief Investment Officer Philippe Laffont, a board member of TikTok parent ByteDance, said the U.S. and China need to “give clarity” about the future of TikTok.

Meanwhile, Anton Levy, co-president of General Atlantic, said a lot of concerns about the dangers posed by TikTok related to “fear of what might happen rather what's practical.” Levy, who described General Atlantic as a “single-digit shareholder” in ByteDance, added that he “empathized with the concerns raised on all sides” of the issue, noting that the U.S. government was “trying to protect” their citizens.