Trump Says Yes To Microsoft TikTok Deal (T&C Apply)
TikTok is facing a hard time on American soil. Earlier reports suggested that the US government might ban the video-sharing app, but things changed when Microsoft showed interest in buying the US business of the app.
As per the latest development, Microsoft is, in fact, in talks to buy TikTok — the company also acknowledged this on its official blog on Sunday. The development comes after a call between US President Donald Trump and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella over the weekend.
President Trump has agreed to the Microsoft-TikTok deal. But he was quick to propose on the condition that the US Treasury should get a cut from the deal if any US company buys TikTok and demanded the same from Microsoft Chief.
Trump said that “the United States should get a very large percentage of that price, because we’re making it possible.”
“It would come from the sale, which nobody else would be thinking about but me, but that’s the way I think, and I think it’s very fair.”
The dream of earning some cash out of the Microsoft-TikTok deal may not be a cakewalk for the US government as it’s a private deal and legal hurdles might come along the way, according to a BBC report.
Meanwhile, the US president also set a deadline for the purchase of TikTok, which is September 15. After this, he will ban the Chinese app if no company ends up buying it.
The ban on TikTok stems from allegations that TikTok is a supplier of American citizen data to the Chinese government. However, both TikTok and the Chinese government have denied the same.
As part of the deal, Microsoft is also planning to invite other American investors to offer them a minority stake.
Microsoft said it would work with ByteDance to acquire TikTok’s operations in the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Without making much change to the TikTok experience, Microsoft said it would boost the privacy and security aspects and “ensure that all private data of TikTok’s American users is transferred to and remains in the United States.”
“To the extent that any such data is currently stored or backed-up outside the United States, Microsoft will ensure that this data is deleted from servers outside the country after it is transferred,” it added.
