HARDBALL? Chinese government puts restrictions on TikTok sale ordered by Trump.

China on Friday introduced export restrictions on artificial intelligence technology, seemingly including the type that TikTok uses to choose which videos to spool up to its users. That means TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, would have to obtain a license to export any restricted technologies to a foreign company.

“This is clearly directed at slowing down ByteDance’s deal negotiations in this game of high stakes poker,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a research note. “With TikTok’s key algorithm at play, ByteDance/TikTok will likely now need to go through a licensing procedure around the need to transfer software code from China to the US,” he noted.

I guess instead of taking billions of dollars for their American operations, TikTok could just get shut down here completely.

Not exactly a power move on Beijing’s part, but what else have they got?