News has been building about the US looking into banning TikTok and today that’s come to a head. Reported by Bloomberg, President Trump is ready to force Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell off its US TikTok operations.
Anonymous sources shared with Bloomberg that Trump is planning announce the decision soon, in fact, as early as today.
As we previously covered, the White House has been investigating banning the app or similar action over a number of concerns but a major one is TikTok becoming a place full of misleading speech (via CNN).
The White House nor TikTok responded to Bloomberg‘s request for comment.
TikTok could become a major platform for misleading speech, policymakers and security experts fear. Reports have already found Pizzagate conspiracy theorists on the platform and users spreading false claims about the coronavirus. And if TikTok were to suffer a data breach, said Vanunu, it might be that much easier to target users with bogus information that could undercut American democracy. So TikTok’s handling of content and user data could plausibly weaken US power and influence, experts say, but more abstractly than directly spying on government officials or monitoring troop movements.
Meanwhile, claims from anonymous sources shared with Fox Business Network’s Charles Gasparino say that Microsoft is interested in acquiring the US TikTok business.
CONFIRMED; sources say @Microsoft in talks to buy https://t.co/1q4Y8HRbjG
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) July 31, 2020
