US President Donald Trump announced the finalisation of a deal with China that allows popular short-format video platform, TikTok, to continue operating in the US.
While the details of the agreement will be confirmed on Friday after Trump speaks with Chinese President, Xi Jinping, an executive order was signed by Trump on Tuesday that extends the deadline until December 16 for TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest from the platform or face the promised ban on the video-sharing app.
“We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it. And you know, the kids want it so badly,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
“I had parents calling me up. They don’t want it for themselves, they want it for their kids. They say, if I don’t get it done, they are in big trouble with their kids. And I think it’s great. I hate to see value like that thrown out the window,” he said.
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Trump has often credited the app for helping him win young voters in November’s presidential elections.
Although specific details of the deal were not shared, leading US-based newspapers reported that the Chinese ownership stake in TikTok would be reduced to less than 20 per cent under the proposed agreement.
“It will lawfully process matters such as technology export approvals and intellectual property licensing rights related to TikTok,” a newspaper commented.
The official newspaper of the Communist Party in China, People’s Daily, hailed the deal and called it “an example of cooperation for mutual benefit”.
The future of TikTok, which claims more than 170 million users in the US, has been in the balance since lawmakers in Washington last year passed legislation to force the platform to divest from its Chinese ownership.
Democrats and Republicans alike overwhelmingly supported the ban amid concerns the platform could be used by Beijing to spy on Americans and spread Chinese Communist Party propaganda.
Trump himself sought to ban TikTok in his first term as president, before doing a U-turn and pledging to “save” the platform during his re-election campaign.
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