US President Donald Trump has given his approval to a deal between Chinese firm Bytedance and US companies Oracle and Walmart for TikTok US.
Talking to reporters, President Trump said he had given his "blessing" to a partnership between ByteDance and Oracle and Walmart to allow the video sharing app TikTok to continue its operations in the US.
Ban on TikTok
In early August, President Trump issued executive orders banning the two Chinese-owned apps if their Chinese-owned parent companies fail to sell them in 45 days. The US government is claiming that these firms are a threat to the country’s national security.
The TikTok order states that after 45 days, "any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd.," will be prohibited.
The order also makes the accusation that the social media platform "automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users," such as location data and browsing and search histories, which "threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage."
Last Friday, the US Department of Commerce announced that it will ban TikTok and WeChat from app stores beginning Sunday unless a last-minute deal is approved.
According to the commerce department, it will ban people in the US from downloading the messaging app WeChat and video sharing app TikTok through any app store on any platform.
Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said: "At the president’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data."
While the department admits that the levels of threat posed by WeChat and TikTok are different, it said that both firms collected "vast swathes of data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories".
The commerce department stated: "The President has provided until November 12 for the national security concerns posed by TikTok to be resolved." Beyond this date, some technical transactions will be banned on the app which would affect functionality.
Ross added that "the basic TikTok will stay intact until November 12” but WeChat “for all practical purposes… will be shut down in the US, but only in the US, as of midnight Monday".
President Trump's blessing
On Saturday, President Trump emphasized that the deal would ensure the data security of the estimated 100 million Americans who use the app. He said: "The security will be 100%."
Before he left for an election rally in North Carolina, Trump said: "I have given the deal my blessing. I approve the deal in concept."
Both ByteDance and TikTok welcomed the president's approval of the proposed deal, which will still need to be approved by the Chinese government.
According to TikTok, the partnership will ensure that US national security requirements were fully met and that its parent company ByteDance is working to reach an agreement that was "in line with US and Chinese law" as soon as possible.
TikTok interim chief executive officer (CEO) Vanessa Pappas posted a video on Twitter. which states that the app was "here to stay" in the US.
