I have only ever seen this kind of obfuscation with malware before. This fits unconfirmed (but credible) reports that ByteDance will not permit any non-Chinese employees to even look at the backend in their foreign offices and instead fly in experts from China. That's not normal.
Thanks for keeping the "if not sold". They've had many opportunities to make it legal, and they've fought it all the way. It's not a "ban" as much as it is a forced sale.
I'm guessing next week we're going to hear they spun it off to a totally american company, or meta taking it over or something. Then everyone will celebrate that it's back.