Increased scrutiny of cybersecurity supposedly prompted the TikTok founder to play it safe.

Thanks to a combination of a rapidly ballooning userbase and the general rise in social awareness that has brought about, TikTok has become one of the most ubiquitous social media platforms in the world in a relatively short span of time. That ubiquity has already made ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, quite wealthy, though in order to break into the western markets in earnest, it would need to launch on the western stock exchanges through an IPO. According to a rumor reported by The Wall Street Journal, such an IPO was in the works, but the ByteDance execs decided to pull the chute at the last minute.

TikTok owner ByteDance shelved its IPO plans after Chinese regulators warned about data-security risks, people familiar with the matter said https://t.co/bTeSSB3qEV

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) July 12, 2021

According to the report, the company was weighing the idea of an IPO in the United States and Hong Kong back in March. However, due to the recent increase in scrutiny on other tech firms from Chinese regulators, ByteDance’s founder, Zhang Yiming, decided to hold off, at least until they could talk with the regulators and address any existing concerns about cybersecurity. There’s also the fact that the company didn’t have a CFO at the time, so any major financial moves may have been ill-advised.

TikTok owner ByteDance took different approach from Didi, shelving offshore IPO intentions after Chinese regulators warned about data security. Beijing-based comp was valued $180bn in last funding round in Dec. Nasdaq China Index has plunged 35% from ATH. https://t.co/DADbyExRq2 pic.twitter.com/ND4xdsRiQz

— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) July 12, 2021

When questioned on the rumor by CNBC, a ByteDance spokesperson said that they do not comment on rumors or speculation.