Donald Trump gives TikTok 45 days to complete potential sale to Microsoft

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order giving the Chinese parent company of video sharing app TikTok 45 days to complete a sale, after which date any transaction will be forbidden and the app will be banned.

Trump on Thursday night signed the order titled ‘Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok’, which bars any transaction with TikTok parent ByteDance after 45 days from the signing.

Amid growing security and privacy concerns about the app’s Chinese ownership, Microsoft has reportedly been in talks to acquire TikTok in a firesale, and Trump’s order only increases pressure on ByteDance to get the deal done quickly.

Any company still doing business with ByteDance in 45 days will be subject to sanctions, Trump said. If a sale does not go through before the September 20 deadline, the order would effectively bar the use of TikTok throughout the U.S.

Along with the executive order, Trump sent a letter to the House speaker and Senate president explaining the move.

The letter states that TikTok ‘automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users.’

‘This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage,’ it continued.

ByteDance has denied that it shares data with the Chinese government, and Chinese state media blasted the U.S. response to TikTok as ‘madness.’

Under a Chinese law introduced in 2017, companies have an obligation to support and cooperate with the country’s national intelligence work. 

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate unanimously voted to approve a bill banning federal employees from using TikTok on government-issued devices.

‘I’m encouraged by the bipartisan support we have seen in this body to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable and that includes … holding accountable those corporations who would just do China’s bidding,’ Senator Josh Hawley, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement.

‘And, if I have anything to say about it, we won’t be stopping here,’ the Republican senator added.

Last month, the House of Representatives voted to bar federal employees from downloading the app on government-issued devices as part of a proposal offered by Representative Ken Buck.

A finalized version of the bill, combining the House and Senate versions, would need Trump’s approval to become law.

Developing story, check back for updates.