TikTok's Chinese parent company reportedly agrees to divest app's U.S. operations

(Image credit: GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)

last updated 1 August 2020

TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has agreed to completely sever ties with the social media app's U.S. operations with Microsoft taking over, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters Saturday.

The report comes a day after President Trump said he planned to ban the popular video app in the U.S. amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing. TikTok became caught up in the conflict over the U.S.'s growing concerns that ByteDance was harboring users' personal data, which the Trump administration considers a national security risk.

Microsoft has reportedly been working to purchase the app for a while, and it looks like the deal will go through, although it's unclear if Trump will remain committed to his threat. Previously, ByteDance was aiming to retain a minority stake in the U.S. business, a proposal the White House rejected. Bloomberg reported earlier Saturday that threatening to ban the app in the U.S. was a negotiating tactic Trump used to force ByteDance to fully sell its stake.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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