TikTok, Oracle Reach Initial Technical Partnership Deal

TikTok has made an initial "technical partnership" with Oracle ahead of September 20 deadline that U.S. President Donald Trump has given the popular video-sharing app.

Trump has threatened to ban TikTok, owned by ByteDance, a Chinese firm, over data security concerns and national security risks because of its ownership.

ByteDance is a Chinese multinational internet technology company founded in 2012 and based in Beijing.

The initial agreement between TikTok and Oracle was revealed by a source familiar with the deal but had no authority to speak about it in public, according to a report on the AP News.

The president also ordered ByteDance to sell its U.S. business because it is worried that TikTok might feed U.S. users' data to the Chinese authorities, which the video-sharing app has denied.

TikTok has filed a lawsuit to stop the U.S. government from banning it. However, the lawsuit did not include the order to sell, as it is the only way it can continue its operations in the U.S.

Aside from Oracle, Microsoft was also interested in acquiring the U.S. operations of TikTok. Still, the American multinational technology that develops and manufactures computer software and related services said on Sunday, September 13, that TikTok had rejected their bid.

However, Walmart, which had planned to partner with Microsoft on the acquisition, said they are still interested in investing in the popular video-sharing app and continuing to talk with ByteDance and other parties.

Oracle is also a multinational company that sells database software and technology, cloud engineered systems, and enterprise software products.

A report on the Financial Times stated that as part of the deal with TikTok, it would address the Trump administration's national security concerns.

Incidentally, the Oracle is chaired by Larry Ellison, who publicly gives his support to Trump.

With the TikTok partnership, Ellison will probably own a minority stake in the U.S. operations of TikTok.

Trump has not commented yet on the news that TikTok has chosen the Oracle.

As the partnership is still on its initial stages, it is unclear if it will only be for TikTok's U.S. operations and how the split will be done with the rest of TikTok's social media platform. It has 100 million users in the U.S.

While TikTok is popular globally with 700 million users, ByteDance also has a similar app in the Chinese market known as Douyin.

The partnership will be watched closely by both U.S. and China. It may also be affected by the Chinese government's new regulations that restrict the exportation of technology, which might likely include the artificial intelligence system that TikTok uses to choose which videos to spool up to its users.

If that will be the case, ByteDance will have to obtain a license from China.

Meanwhile, TikTok recently came under criticism after it was unable to stop the video of a man committing suicide, which was initially live-streamed on Facebook, according to a previous report on Latin Post.

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