The US President Donald Trump issued two executive orders against the China-based App Tiktok and messaging app WeChat after citing national security concerns.
The order will take effect after 45 days, prohibiting any U.S company or person from transacting with WeChat or Tiktok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The statement means that these companies would not be able to appear on Google’s Play Store or on The Apple App Store in the United States of America.
Chinese Parent Company, ByteDance:
In August 2018, the famous social media app Musical.ly was taken over by ByteDance, a multinational internet technology, which a platform in China. All the accounts were automatically transferred to the new named app TikTok.
The app gained worldwide recognition and according to a report by Bloomberg, The Chinese Company gained a net profit of $3 billion last year.
Technology giant Microsoft in talks to buy TikTok and WeChat:
The technology giant Microsoft is in talks with the company ByteDance to buy its US operation. President Trump had earlier said that the popular Chinese app would be banned in September if it’s not sold to an American based company in the next 45 days.
The order said that,
“The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security.”
“The following actions shall be prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this order…any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd.”
MORE: @realDonaldTrump has also signed a similar order banning transactions with WeChat. pic.twitter.com/Y4nVlCVBke
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) August 7, 2020
Trump in favor of purchasing the complete 100 percent:
President Donald Trump also stated that he is in favor of purchasing the complete 100 percent of the share, which is the Tiktok and WeChat application from the Chinese Companies instead of just 30 percent which was reportedly being negotiated until now.
Donald Trump confirmed while talking to the reporters in the Cabinet Room of the White House,
“We had a great conversation. He (Nadella, CEO of Microsoft) called me to see how I felt about it. I said, look, it can’t be controlled for security reasons by China… (its) too big, too invasive. It can’t be… I don’t mind whether it’s Microsoft or somebody else, a big company…American company buys it. It’s probably easier to buy the whole thing rather than buy 30 percent of it.”
He further said, “I said how do you do 30 percent? Who’s going to get the name? The name is hot. The brand is hot. Who’s going to get the name and who is going to get that when it’s owned by two different companies. So, my personal opinion was, you probably better off buying the whole thing rather than buying 30 percent of it. I think, 30 percent is complicated and I suggested that he can go ahead. He can try.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDPauYMhChp/
Trump said TikTok is a great asset:
While addressing the reporters, Trump told them that the Chinese Application would be a great asset “but it’s not a great asset in the US unless they have the approval of the American Government.”
He said, “So, I’ll close down on September 15 unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it and work out a deal. An appropriate deal and the treasury gets a lot of money, a lot of them.”
Statement by Redmond-headquartered Microsoft:
A statement was given on Sunday, following the conversation of President Trump and Nadella, by Redmond- headquartered Microsoft saying that they are prepared to continue discussions regarding the massive purchase of TikTok in the USA.
“Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the Presidents’ concerns. It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing paper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.”
Microsoft also added during the discussions that “in any event” it would finish talking with ByteDance no later than September 15.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-QgEn1g0hL/
Mike Pompeo accused TikTok of stealing personal information of America:
During recent weeks, the state of Secretary, Mr. Mike Pompeo accused the Chinese based App TikTok of stealing and collecting America’s personal information.
However, TikTok has previously stressed about the whole security situation by saying that its US user data is already stored on US-based servers and backed up in Singapore, and is not subject to Chinese law as some US officials have feared.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also told that the TikTok app cannot stay in the current format in the US on Sunday, saying “it risks sending back information on 100 million Americans.”
