Microsoft has discussed plans to acquire the U.S operation of the famous TikTok app with President Donald Trump. The discussion happened on Sunday after the White House threatened to ban the huge popular Chinese-owned app.

Microsoft Responds Planned Acquisition TikTok After Consulting Trump
(Photo : Florence Lo)
FILE PHOTO: China and U.S. flags are seen near a TikTok logo in this illustration picture taken July 16, 2020.

 

The software giant confirmed its talk with Chinese company ByteDance to acquire the U.S operations of TikTok and discussed with the president his concerns about the security and censorship of the acquisition. 

In a blog post, Microsoft said that there had been the following conversation between Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO and President Donald Trump. The software giant said that it is prepared to continue discussing the matters regarding the purchase of TikTok in the United States.  

According to NPR, Microsoft's first public acknowledgment is that it is on a transaction of taking over TikTok and worth billions of dollars. The announcement trickled out on Friday. The company said, "Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the concerns of the president. It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the U.S, including the United States Treasury."

The purchase of TikTok could be a way to open up a vast user base of digitally savvy people for Microsoft, a $1.5 trillion worth company that also owns LinkedIn, Skype, and Xbox aside from its legacy Windows software products. 

Microsoft and ByteDance gave notice of their intent to explore the deal resulting in Microsoft owning and operating the TikTok service in the U.S, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, as per TIME. Microsoft said it expects a conclusion to those talks by September 15. Microsoft also ensures to keep all private data of TikTok's American users, and all data from servers outside the country deleted once the transfer is completed.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, President Trump gave Microsoft Corp 45 days to negotiate the acquisition of TikTok, according to three people familiar with the matter. The proposed acquisition of TikTok would give Microsoft a rare opportunity to become one of the major competitors to social media giants like Snap Inc. and Facebook Inc.

According to Yahoo News, the deadline was put to Microsoft and ByteDance by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States or CFIUS, which scrutinizes deals for potential national security risks. 

On Friday, the president said he is planning to ban TikTok because the application is owned by a Chinese and could impose national security risk because of the personal data it stores. However, Trump changed his mind after his advisers, and many in the Republican party expressed their opinions. The sources said, banning TikTok could isolate many young users ahead of the 2020 U.S presidential election in November and could trigger a wave of legal challenges. In the last two days, several prominent Republican lawmakers urged Trump to let Microsoft continue with the sale of TikTok.

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