Amidst concerns of safety of personal data and to exert pressure on the parent Chinese company President Donald Trump on Friday ordered ByteDance to divest within 90 days the US operations of its video-sharing app TikTok.
In his order, Trump said, “There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that ByteDance might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,”.
This is in addition to Trump’s earlier executive order issued last week specifying that embargo will be imposed on certain transactions of Bytedance with TikTok unless it initiates its plan to divest within the next 45 days. ByteDance is negotiating with Microsoft Corp for sale of the North America, Australia and New Zealand operations of TikTok.
This latest order ordering ByteDance to divest TikTok is a legal defensive step employed by the US Government on the Chinese-owned social media app. This order gave authorization to the U.S. officials to inspect TikTok and ByteDance’s account statements and information systems in order to ensure the safety of personal data while the sale negotiations are underway.
While TikTok’s short videos of people dancing are already viral among teenagers, U.S. officials are concerned that user information can be passed on to the communist government of the Republic of China.
ByteDance estimated to be used by 100 million Americans said, “because it is their home for entertainment, self-expression, and connection. We’re committed to continuing to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform for many years to come.”
Trump is in support of the initiative by Microsoft to buy TikTok’s American operations if the U.S. government got a “substantial portion” of the proceeds, but has also said there are other interested potential buyers.
“I do what’s good in terms of the security of our country,” he told reporters.