Trump admin will reportedly power ByteDance to sell TikTok

It’s unclear precisely what steps Trump plans to clutch separate the U.S. version of the app from its Chinese language householders. In step with Gasparino, Trump could power a sale by skill of the Committee on International Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The Trump administration feeble the same tactic final yr when it compelled the Chinese language owner of Grindr to sell the relationship app to a U.S purchaser.

In an announcement, a spokesperson for TikTok acknowledged the firm is “confident in the long-time interval success” of the app. “While we enact no longer comment on rumors or speculation, we are confident in the long-time interval success of TikTok,” the spokesperson acknowledged. “A total lot of thousands and thousands of of us attain to TikTok for leisure and connection, at the side of our neighborhood of creators and artists who’re building livelihoods from the platform. We’re motivated by their ardour and creativity, and dedicated to defending their privacy and safety as we continue working to lift pleasure to families and meaningful careers to of us that create on our platform.”

Microsoft didn’t today acknowledge to a interrogate for comment.

The news comes after weeks of speculation about TikTok’s future in the U.S. Secretary of Dispute Mike Pompeo acknowledged earlier this month that the federal government became “taking a see at” banning the app, and Congress has no longer too long previously moved to bar TikTok from federally-issued devices.

TikTok has maintained that the app operates independently from its Chinese language guardian firm, and that it wouldn’t cooperate with requests at give up user recordsdata. The firm no longer too long previously appointed an American CEO, aged Disney government Kevin Mayer, and has taken several steps to amplify transparency of its insurance policies and product.

Update 7/31 7: 15pm ET: Microsoft declined to comment.

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