While the app’s future in the US is questionable, US President Donald Trump announced Monday that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok.
A US law has required TikTok to either divest from its Chinese owner ByteDance or face banishment in the US.
When asked by reporters late Monday if Microsoft was considering purchasing TikTok, Trump responded, “I would say yes.”
“There’s a lot of interest in TikTok, there’s great interest in TikTok,” he added aboard Air Force One.
He noted that a “bidding war” would also be a good development.
Due to worries that the Chinese government would use the video-sharing website to secretly sway US public opinion or spy on Americans, a legislation prohibiting it went into force on January 19.
However, in an effort to reach an agreement with Beijing, Trump has put a two-and-a-half-month halt on its implementation.
According to CFRA Research’s Angelo Zino, Microsoft is one of the probable purchasers who would have an incentive to invest in TikTok.
The individual holds the opinion that Microsoft “has had a desire to get more entrenched into the digital ad space.”
TikTok temporarily shut down in the United States as the deadline for the law approached.
Trump then promised to issue an executive order as soon as he took office to delay the ban to allow time to “make a deal.”
Although the departing Biden administration had previously stated that it would not impose any ban, TikTok later restored service nationwide, attributing the shift to Trump.
On the grounds of national security, Trump had tried to outlaw TikTok in the US during his first term in office.
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