Trump administration moves to ban TikTok
Action against the app could come as soon as Saturday
President Trump said late Friday that his administration after days of hinting of taking action against Chinese-owned social media app TikTok is now "banning them from the United States."
Trump did not specify whether he will act through an executive order or another method but said government action could take place as soon as Saturday.
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Earlier on Friday, the president hinted at forthcoming action and TikTok responded in a statement.
"Hundreds of millions of people come to TikTok for entertainment and connection, including our community of creators and artists who are building livelihoods from the platform,” A TikTok spokesperson told FOX Business in a statement. “We’re motivated by their passion and creativity, and committed to protecting their privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform."
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is preparing to tell ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to divest in the United States and that Microsoft is in talks to buy the company.
A source familiar with discussions between the White House and TikTok told FOX Business correspondent Hillary Vaughn that they expect an agreement with a buyer to be reached between TikTok and a US firm fairly quickly adding they don’t think it will take until December for an agreement to be reached.
In discussions with TikTok White House officials have made it clear to the app that they need a U.S. buyer.
It’s unclear how much TikTok is worth, but according to Reuters some investors of ByteDance, who want to take over TikTok, are valuing it at $50 billion.
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For comparison, Twitter currently has a market capitalization of $28.5 billion, and Snap has a market capitalization of $33 billion.
U.S. officials are concerned that TikTok may be forced under Chinese law to share information on American users with the Chinese government.
These security concerns have prompted multiple branches of the U.S. military to ban soldiers from using TikTok. A bill that would bar federal employees from using TikTok on government phones cleared the House and a Senate committee last week. India banned TikTok last month amid rising tensions with China.