Can TikTok's owner afford to lose its killer app?

Getty ImagesTikTok has filed a lawsuit to try and block the US from banning it if its Chinese parent company does not sell its stake in the social media app.Fears that data about millions of Americans could land in China's hands drove Congressional efforts to try and split TikTok from the Beijing-based company ByteDance,TikTok has said ByteDance "is not an agent of China or any other country". And ByteDance insists it's not a Chinese firm, pointing to the many global investment firms that own 60% of it. But the app's extraordinary success in the US has made it yet another flashpoint between Washington and Beijing. Some 170 million Americans use TikTok every month. That includes about six in 10 teenagers, a fifth of whom say they are on it "almost constantly", according to Pew Research Center. More than 40% of US users say it's their regular source of news. A ban on TikTok was challenged by the company on Tuesday. In the lawsuit, the social media company called the attempted ban an "ext...