US President Donald Trump said that he plans to ban TikTok from the United States, as Bytedance agreed to divest TikTok's US operations, according to a report in Reuters.
In recent weeks, TikTok has been facing backfires following U.S. Officials warned that the Chinese-owned social media platform poses a national risk because of the personal data it handles. Specifically, Chinese law can compel any domestic company to hand over each gathered user data.
Trump reportedly said "As far as TikTok is concerned we're banning them from the United States," and that an executive order enforcing the ban could be signed as soon as today. "I have that authority," he said.
However, just when the ban could be enforced today, two sources told Reuters that Bytedance, developer of TikTok, has agreed to divest the U.S. operations of TikTok. and US tech giant Microsoft will take over from there. The source continued on saying that some US-based Bytedance investors may have the opportunity to obtain a minority stake in the business.
The White House, ByteDance, and Microsoft did not comment on this account.
Microsoft is currently in talks with TikTok for divestment, and the value of this transaction may reach billions of dollars, the former will be in charge of protecting all U.S. user data, the sources said.
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