pictures created on August 01, 2020, shows the logo of the social
media video-sharing app TikTok displayed on a tablet screen in
Paris, and US President Donald Trump at the White House in
Washington, DC, on July 30, 2020. AFP
Negotiations for Microsoft to buy the US operations
of Chinese-owned TikTok are on hold after President Donald Trump
threatened to bar the social media app and came out against the
sale, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Trump has pledged to get tough on the massively popular
video-sharing app, which US officials have said could be a tool for
Chinese intelligence — a claim the firm, owned by Chinese internet
giant ByteDance, has repeatedly denied.
While there has been no sign yet of the ban he threatened on
Friday to impose, his words were reportedly already adding to
uncertainties for TikTok.
“Before Mr. Trump’s remarks, the two sides believed the broad
strokes of a deal could be in place by Monday,” the paper reported
on a possible TikTok-Microsoft sale, citing unnamed sources.
It also said Trump’s threats and opposition to the deal had
prompted TikTok to make further concessions, including adding up to
10,000 jobs in the US over the next three years.
TikTok defended itself on Saturday, with its general manager for
the US, Vanessa Pappas, telling users that the company was working
to give them “the safest app,” amid US concerns over data
security.
“We’re not planning on going anywhere,” Pappas said in a message
released on the app.
TikTok, especially popular with young audiences who create and
watch its short-form videos, has an estimated one billion users
worldwide.
It has grown even faster as the coronavirus pandemic has pushed
people physically away from each other, but into close contact
online.
Earlier media reports had suggested Trump would require that the
app’s US operations be divested from ByteDance, but he instead
announced a ban.
Trump’s announcement drew criticism from some in the tech
sector, including former Facebook chief security officer Alex
Stamos, who questioned whether the move was spurred by national
security concerns.
“A 100 per cent sale to an American company would have been
considered a radical solution two weeks ago and, eventually,
mitigates any reasonable data protection concerns,” he wrote on
Twitter.
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TikTokers employed the apps’ signature short-form videos to poke
fun at Trump.
One clip that was liked over 300,000 times shows a young woman
stacking bricks and smearing orange paint on her face, apparent
digs at the president’s skin tone and controversial pledge to build
a wall between the US and Mexico.
influencer Mowada al-Adham on the video-sharing app TikTok in
Egypt’s capital Cairo on July 28, 2020. AFP
“Me trying to convince Trump to let us keep TikTok”, read the
text on the post.
‘For the long run’
The American Civil Liberties Union cried foul over the
possibility of a ban on the app.
“Banning an app that millions of Americans use to communicate
with each other is a danger to free expression and is
technologically impractical,” said the ACLU’s surveillance and
cybersecurity counsel, Jennifer Granick.
“With any Internet platform, we should be concerned about the
risk that sensitive private data will be funnelled to abusive
governments, including our own,” Granick said in a statement.
“But shutting one platform down, even if it were
legally possible to do so, harms freedom of
speech online and does nothing
to resolve the broader problem of unjustified
government surveillance.”
Pappas said she was “proud” of TikTok’s 1,500 US employees, and
also noted the “additional 10,000 jobs” the company plans on
creating in the US in the next three years.
“When it comes to safety and security, we’re building the safest
app because we know it’s the right thing to do,” she said.
“So we appreciate the support. We’re here for the long run, and
continue to share your voice here and let’s stand for TikTok.”
AFP
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/08/02/tiktok-sale-uncertain-as-trump-ban-looms-reports/