Will TikTok be banned in the United States? Trump says they need to make a deal

A man opens social media app ‘Tik Tok’ on his cell phone, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, July 21, 2020. President Donald Trump said he would ban the social media app TikTok and gave the company 45-days to reach a deal with American-owned tech company Microsoft. | Anjum Naveed, Associated Press

Microsoft said it ‘was committed to acquiring TikTok’ and the company will work with government to make it happen

SALT LAKE CITY — The fate of TikTok’s U.S. operations remains unknown as President Donald Trump gives the Chinese social media company 45 days to make a deal with Microsoft.

The potential sale of the Beijing-based company’s American operation to the tech giant comes at the same time the Trump administration’s concerns over the potential for mishandling of user data by the Chinese company.

The president — a businessman and former reality television star who judged peoples’ business acumen — gave the two companies 45 days to iron out details of the sale, according to Reuters.

“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump said Friday. The president told reporters aboard Air Force One that he “(has) that authority” to outlaw the app and could use an executive order or emergency economic powers to do it, CNN reported.

Details of the order and any potential legal challenges to it were unclear, according to CNN.

TikTok is an app that allows its users to create and post brief videos, which typically involve music and dancing lasting around 15 seconds to a minute.

President Trump on TikTok @tiktok_us: "It'll close down on September 15th unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it." pic.twitter.com/GVn1yZeJ2W

— CSPAN (@cspan) August 3, 2020

On Monday, Trump told reporters that he told Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that if a deal was made with TikTok, “a very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the Treasury of the United States, because we’re making it possible for this deal to happen,” according to C-SPAN.

The president said the ban would go into affect on Sept. 15 “unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it and work out a deal, an appropriate deal, so that the Treasury of the United States gets a lot of money. A lot of money.”

“It was unclear how the president would require TikTok to pay a portion of its sale into the U.S. Treasury, beyond the normal collection of tax revenue by the Internal Revenue Service. A Treasury Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A White House spokesman also did not immediately return a request for an explanation” The Washington Post reported.

Microsoft is “committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury,” the tech company said in a press release Sunday.

“Microsoft will move quickly to pursue discussions with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in a matter of weeks, and in any event completing these discussions no later than September 15, 2020. During this process, Microsoft looks forward to continuing dialogue with the United States Government, including with the President,” the statement adds.

Based on TikTok’s privacy policy, the app collects location data, social networking contact information, and details about the user, including age, telephone number and what videos are watched, The Wall Street Journal Reported. TikTok has said Americans’ data is not be shared with the Chinese government.

ByteDance is already expected to move TikTok’s operations from Beijing to London, Reuters reported Monday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the move a “commercial decision,” not directly driven by security pressures.

India banned TikTok — and more than 50 other Chinese-based apps — in June after a deadly border clash between the countries resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops, according to The New York Times. The Indian government also cited security concerns, and alleged the apps were stealing and transmitting user data to servers outside of India.

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