The United States (US) Treasury said on Wednesday that it had extended by seven days the November 27 deadline given to the Chinese owner of TikTok to sell the American business of the popular social media platform.
“The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) granted ByteDance a one-week extension, from November 27, 2020 to December 4, 2020, to allow time to review a revised submission that the Committee recently received,” a Treasury spokesman said. said.
The administration of President Donald Trump has raised national security concerns over the app, claiming it could be used for Chinese espionage and threatening to ban it.
The ban has been challenged in court, including a case in Washington and a separate filing by the “creators” of the app in a Pennsylvania court, which blocked the ban on October 30, although the government is appealing that order.
Trump, who lost his re-election bid this month, has claimed that TikTok, which has about 100 million American users, can be used to collect data on Americans for Chinese espionage, a claim denied by the company.
The White House has said that TikTok must become a US company controlled by US investors to avoid a ban.
But any plan would likely need approval from Beijing, which has refused to relinquish control of its social media star.
China’s Ministry of Commerce released new rules in August that added “civil use” to a list of types of technology that are restricted for export, which could make it difficult for ByteDance to sell TikTok, which features clips of everything from routines to dance to politics. .
Earlier this year a deal appeared to take shape that would allow Silicon Valley giant Oracle to be the data partner of a recently incorporated TikTok Global, with Walmart joining as a business partner.
While Trump signaled his approval of the plan, it has not been finalized and the outlook remains unclear.
The events come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade and national security, and the US administration also barred Chinese tech giant Huawei from obtaining US technology and deals involving wireless networks.
[AFP]
