The owner of popular social media app TikTok said on Monday it had no presence in Taiwan, after the island's authorities said they were investigating the social media app for running what they claimed were "illegal operations".

ByteDance said that recent reports suggesting it had “set up a subsidiary in Taiwan are incorrect".

"The company has not established any legal entities in Taiwan,” it added.

The statement was made in response to Taiwanese authorities’ announcement that they are probing TikTok on suspicion of illegally operating a subsidiary on the island.

The Liberty Times newspaper had reported that ByteDance had set up a subsidiary on the island to tout for business, contravening rules designed to stop Chinese social media platforms from running commercial operations on the island.

Earlier this month, TikTok called a US congressional push to ban the app in the United States “politically motivated” and described the move as “troubling”.

It made the statement after Republican Senator Marco Rubio announced bipartisan legislation to ban the app, citing fears it could be used to spy on Americans and censor content.

"It is troubling that rather than encouraging the administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States," a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement then. (AFP/Reuters)