TikTok, ByteDance's blockbuster app, may get kicked out of the U.S. and is banned in India. With ByteDance's global expansion stopped cold in two of its most important markets, the powerhouse tech company may refocus its vast energies on its home market in China.

In the long run, that could be bad news for Alibaba and Tencent, which dominate China’s consumer internet sector. Over the past several years, ByteDance’s rapid growth in users and ad revenue in the domestic market has already challenged other major Chinese tech companies. Losing most of the market for TikTok, by far its biggest and most promising overseas product, could make the Chinese company even more determined to find new sources of growth at home, ByteDance employees said.