ByteDance would rather shut down its video-sharing app TikTok than sell it to a U.S.-based company, according to a new report released by Reuters on Thursday. The report says ByteDance would prefer to shut down its operations in the United States if it is unable to convince a federal court to block a newly enacted law that bans the app from American app stores unless ByteDance sells the service to a stateside company within the following year. Last week, lawmakers in the House of Representatives rolled the so-called TikTok ban into a funding bill for military aid in Ukraine and Israel, essentially forcing their counterparts in the Senate to act on the measure. Senators did just that, sending the bill to President Biden this week, who signed it into law on Wednesday. The law requires ByteDance to sell TikTok to a stateside company within the next nine months, with a possible extension of 90 days if government officials think the company is making enough progress toward that goal. If ByteDance refuses to sell, tech companies would be prohibited from offering the service in their app stores, essentially cutting off distribution. The TikTok ban is now law, but is it legal? Image: KnowTechie For now, nothing has changed: TikTok is still available in the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and other places, and the service is still operating. Earlier this week, executives at ByteDance and TikTok said the company would file a legal challenge in federal court seeking to overturn…ByteDance may shut down TikTok in U.S. after legal ban, report says