Published 09:41 IST, August 9th 2020
Amid Microsoft talks, Twitter expresses interest in buying TikTok's US operations
This comes shortly after Trump's ultimatum to the Chinese company, threatening a ban on its operations in the US if not sold to a US company within 45 days
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Twitter has approached TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to inquire into the operations of the popular video-sharing app in the US, agencies reported on Sunday. This comes shortly after Trump's ultimatum to the Chinese company, threatening a ban on its operations in the US if not sold to a US company within 45 days.
As per reports, microblogging site Twitter has expressed its interest in acquiring the US operations of TikTok, however, it was also reported that the deal is less than likely to come to fruition since Twitter would not be able to raise the capital to pull through the deal.
On the other hand, US tech giant Microsoft is already in talks with ByteDance to reach an agreement regarding the sale of TikTok's US operations. US President Donald Trump earlier this week said that he would support Microsoft’s efforts to buy TikTok’s US operations if the government received a 'substantial portion' of the proceeds.
Trump signs executive order against TikTok
US President Donald Trump on August 6 signed an executive order banning American citizens and businesses from doing any transaction with Chinese-owned application TikTok, its parent company ByteDance Ltd. and messaging app WeChat after 45 days. Trump had earlier last week announced that TikTok will go out of business by September in his country if not sold to an American company.
Trump in his executive order stated that these steps have been taken because the applications mentioned above threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. Trump has accused the Chinese-owned apps of storing personal data of American citizens and possibly sharing it with Beijing.
"TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) 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," Trump said in his order.
09:41 IST, August 9th 2020