Washington (AFP)
Donald Trump said Monday that the very popular social network TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, should be sold before mid-September in order to continue operating in the United States.
"I have set a date around September 15, after which they will no longer operate in the United States," the US president told reporters.
"It will close on September 15 unless Microsoft or some other company is able to buy it and find a deal," he added.
In a context of political and trade tensions with China, Washington has accused for months the interface of being used by Chinese intelligence for surveillance purposes. TikTok has always firmly denied any data sharing with Beijing.
Friday evening, the tenant of the White House had declared to want to ban the application of sharing of light videos, and to be opposed to its takeover by an American group.
But on Sunday, he spoke with Satya Nadella, the boss of the Microsoft group, which is negotiating to buy the American branch of TikTok from its parent company.
After their discussion, the head of the IT group confirmed that it would continue negotiations for an agreement by September 15 at the latest.
TikTok is widely used by 15-25 year olds and has around one billion users worldwide. It allows you to create, share and view short clips, generally musical, quirky or humorous.
© 2020 AFP