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

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.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

If ByteDance has indeed made that concession, as indicated by Reuters' sources, the move will test whether Trump was bluffing. Read more at Reuters.