According to a new Reuters report, Tencent Holdings is in talks with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to maintain its stake in Riot Games and Epic Games beginning in late 2020. Depending on the outcome of the talks, CFIUS will have the power to force the Chinese-owned companies to divest from both companies. [The motivation for CFIUS' interest is well known. It is because Tencent needs to prove that its handling of U.S. personal data is not a national security risk. Reuters notes that Tencent is "negotiating risk mitigation measures," but details on what they are are not available; Tencent wholly owns Riot Games and has a 40% stake in Epic Games, but that could change completely if CFIUS is not satisfied.

This report is not that surprising. Former U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order last year banning transactions related to the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, as well as Tencent-owned WeChat. Oracle had planned to buy TikTok's U.S. operations, but negotiations with the company broke down in February, according to the South China Morning Post.

That does not mean that the Biden administration has softened its approach to China on the issue of personal data protection, as Reuters points out; Riot Games declined to comment on the report, insisting that it was working independently of Tencent. Meanwhile, according to the report, Epic Games does not share user data with Tencent.