• TikTok, Trump orders ByteDance to sell US assets
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August 16, 2020 - US President Donald Trump has opened an official and verified account on TikTok competitor Triller - another sign of the White House's disapproval of China's video-sharing app ByteDance. The President's Triller account had posted three short videos and gained around 3,000 followers just after activation. Both Trump and Triller spokespersons did not comment on the news.

Triller is one of several alternatives to TikTok that have seen a surge in downloads since Trump signed an executive order on August 6 that could ban TikTok in the country unless ByteDance cedes ownership by half. September. Trump on Friday returned to deal with the affair, ordering ByteDance to divest the US TikTok business within 90 days.

TikTok is well known among the very young Americans, but the US authorities have expressed concern that information on users may be transmitted from the app to the Beijing authorities, a circumstance repeatedly denied by ByteDance, which however is already in talks to sell TikTok in the North. America, Australia and New Zealand to Microsoft. Meanwhile, the competition is taking advantage of it and trying to win the favor of TikTok's large base of young users.