Trump: US must get substantial portion of the operations sale price of TikTok
President Donald Trump reported on Monday that the US government must get a substantial portion of the US operations sales price of TikTok and he warned that he will prevent the service in the United States on September 15 without a sale.
On Friday, the turnaround came after that Trump reported that he was planning to prevent the Chinese-owned video apps US operations as soon as Saturday and that after rejecting a possible sale to Microsoft.
Moreover, Trump said: I did say that if you buy it, whatever the price is that goes to whoever owns it, because I guess it’s China essentially…I said 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. But, it was not clear how the US government will receive part of the purchase price.
Trump added also that it will close down on September 15 unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it and work out a deal, an appropriate deal so the Treasury…of the United States gets a lot of money. While the US officials reported that the TikTok present a national risk because of the personal data that it treats. TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer announced in a blog post last week that the company was committed to following US laws and was allowing experts to observe its moderation policies and examine the code that drives its algorithms.
The comments of Trump affirmed a Reuters report on Sunday which he agreed to give ByteDance of China 45 days to negotiate a sale of popular short-video app TikTok to Microsoft, and he said that he didn’t mind whether it’s Microsoft or somebody else – a big company, a secure company, very, very American company buy it.
Furthermore, Microsoft reported on Sunday that CEO Satya Nadella spoke to Trump and is prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States. It said also that it 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.
Different important Republicans, such as House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, issued statements in support of a Microsoft acquisition of US operations TikTok. Certain congressional aides are concerned about a backlash by younger voters towards the party if Trump prevented TikTok, which contains 100 million American users. Microsoft and TikTok parent ByteDance gave the government of the US a notification to explore a preliminary proposal for Microsoft to purchase the TikTok service in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Senate Democratic leader of US, Chuck Schumer, also supported the sale, whereas a senior White House adviser raised concerns about a sale to Microsoft. He said on Twitter: A US company should buy TikTok so everyone can keep using it and your data is safe, he added: This is about privacy. With TikTok in China, it’s subject to Chinese Communist Party laws that may require handing over data to their government.
White House trade adviser, Peter Navarro, proposed on Monday that Microsoft could divest its holdings in China if it were to buy TikTok. So the question is, is Microsoft going to be compromised? He said in an interview with CNN: Maybe Microsoft could divest its Chinese holdings?, he added also that the Chinese government and military use Microsoft software to do all the things they do.
