President Trump today said he approves of a deal to turn over the U.S. operations of TikTok to Oracle and Walmart.
His administration on August 6 imposed an order to ban all American companies from doing business with WeChat and TikTok within 45 days. On Friday, Trump said all downloads of WeChat would be barred in the United States beginning tomorrow. Uploads of TikTok would stop on November 12. Those who already have it would be able to continue to use it.
Reuters reports the deal for TikTok, if finalized, would create a new company called TikTok Global of which WalMart would have 53 percent control.
“The security will be 100%,” Trump told reporters, according to Business Insider. “Conceptually it’s a great deal for America.”
The White House claims the Chinese government was using TikTok, a popular social media app especially among the young, to steal the private personal information of its users. Trump called TikTok a security risk.
On Friday, a group of WeChat users sued to block the ban, reported CNET. The fate of that lawsuit is not known at this time as is the future of the company. The suit called Trump’s ban unconstitutional. WeChat is widely used by the Chinese community in the United States to keep in touch with relatives in China.
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