Microsoft Corporation is in talks to buy ByteDance-owned TikTok, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing a supply. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned earlier on the identical day that the U.S. may ban the Chinese-made app.
“We are taking a look at TikTok. We could also be banning Tiktok,” Trump advised reporters exterior the White House as he ready to depart Washington for Florida. He added that the administration was additionally contemplating “a number of alternate options.”
This week, the Trump administration put TikTok, a well-liked social media app amongst a youthful demographic that specializes in brief video codecs, below a proper evaluate on the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. (CFIUS).
The app is owned by the Beijing-based agency ByteDance, and the announcement concerning the evaluate drew sturdy remarks from the Chinese authorities, which accused Washington of discrimination.
The app is the most recent wrinkle in worsening tensions between the world’s two largest economies that was initially over commerce and restricted maritime points in the South China Sea. It has since advanced right into a wider dispute, nonetheless, and now contains variations over Hong Kong, Beijing’s therapy of Muslim minorities and a crackdown on Chinese tech firms.
Washington argues these companies are a nationwide safety menace whereas pushing its allies to take related measures.
TikTok permits customers to create brief movies, typically with some fundamental results and music, which have grow to be more and more fashionable. The firm insists it doesn’t share person knowledge with Beijing.
