New York (AFP)
Twitter has, according to the Wall Street Journal, started preliminary discussions for a possible merger with Tiktok, an application that Donald Trump accuses of spying for the benefit of China and threatens to ban the United States.
Asked by AFP, Twitter and Tiktok refused to confirm the information published Saturday evening by the financial daily, which mentions sources familiar with the matter.
The US president on Thursday signed an executive order banning, within 45 days, any transaction "of persons under US jurisdiction" with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, citing a "national emergency" over the application of light videos .
Earlier this week, Mr. Trump said he was open to the takeover of TikTok by an American group before September 15, but warned that the service would be banned on American soil if no transaction took place by then.
The tenant of the White House also demanded that in case of redemption, a significant part of the sum return to the US Treasury.
Microsoft expressed interest in acquiring TikTok's US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand operations last Sunday.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Twitter believes it is less likely than Microsoft to be pinned for abuse of dominance in this matter because of its significantly smaller size.
The platform would likely need the support of other investors to complete a buyout.
Furthermore, and unlike Microsoft, Twitter is not available in China, where the government has blocked its access since 2009.
Twitter allows sharing of videos, but mostly works by posting short text messages and photos or moving pictures.
Twitter acquired the very short video platform Vine in 2012, but decided to discontinue the service in 2016
© 2020 AFP