Recently, news has been centered around President Donald Trump and his ongoing battle against TikTok,a social media app made popular by its short and entertaining dancing and comedy videos. The app is currently owned by a Chinese media company called ByteDance.
The app has come under fire for claims that it poses high level security threats to the United States. Earlier this summer, countries such as India banned TikTok and dozens of other apps over security concerns.
When asked about TikTok in a Fox News interview, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “We are taking this very seriously and we are certainly looking at it.” He then added that TikTok user data could end up “in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” The next day, President Trump suggested that a ban on the app would be a way of punishing China for the coronavirus outbreak.
The president signed an executive order on August 6 saying that the app would be banned in 45 days unless it was to be bought by a “very American company.”
The order states the app “automatically captures vast swaths of information from it’s users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories.”
This information could potentially allow China to track federal employees and “build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.” ByteDance has since denied these claims.
The president has apparently given his “blessing” to a newly proposed deal between TikTok and the American technology corporation Oracle. This deal would give Oracle and Walmart a 20% stake in the new U.S entity, TikTok Global. TikTok Global is the product of the TikTok - Oracle deal.
Both companies have contradicted each other numerous times in the past week. ByteDance has put out statements stating they still own 80% of the U.S entity. Oracle said that Americans “will be the majority and ByteDance will have no ownership in TikTok Global.”
TikTok has become a staple app for teenagers all over the US. As of right now there has not been a finalized decision, and TikTok seems to be here to stay.
