The app’s success has turned ByteDance into the world’s most valuable startup, worth $78bn (£61bn). TikTok has been downloaded 175 million times in the US alone. The deal still requires approval in both the US and China, and it is unclear whether it will satisfy the terms set out by Trump.īyteDance launched video sharing app TikTok in September 2016 and has already amassed 300 million active users outside China and 1.4 billion total installs to date.
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Enterprise software Oracle ( ORCL) said this week it had won the race but said it would “partner” with TikTok, rather than buy it out-right.
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TikTok’s parent company ByteDance spoke to various US suitors, including Microsoft ( MSFT). US president Donald Trump issued an executive order banning WeChat on August 6th, citing data harvesting that threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to. Trump’s ultimatum sparked frantic deal talks in recent weeks. WeChat will remain in US app stores until at least January 2021 after the Ninth District Court of Appeals denied the US Government’s attempt to have its ban re-enforced. The Justice Department is seeking an immediate ban on downloads of WeChat in Apple and Google app stores, saying the Chinese-owned messaging service is a threat to the security of the United States. “This is a moment to put aside our competition and focus on core principles like freedom of expression and due process of law,” she said.Īt the start August, Trump threatened to block TikTok in the US within 45 days unless it hived off its American operations.
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Vanessa Pappas, TikTok’s interim US chief executive, on Twitter urged Facebook and Instagram to “publicly join our challenge and support our litigation.” “We will continue to challenge the unjust executive order, which was enacted without due process and threatens to deprive the American people and small businesses across the US of a significant platform for both a voice and livelihoods,” the company said. TikTok said in a statement it was “disappointed” with the government’s action and said it had “already committed to unprecedented levels of additional transparency and accountability well beyond what other apps are willing to do”. The Commerce Department said it was concerned this information would be shared with the Chinese government, given the close links between the state and industry in China. TikTok and WeChat both collect data on things like where users are and mobile browsing history. READ MORE: Bytedance’s TikTok proposal isn’t just up to Trump WeChat has millions of users in the United States, who use it to keep in touch with family in China, where most Western communication apps, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram, are banned.
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Watch: US banning use of TikTok and WeChat “At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of US laws and regulations.”