With the executive order, Trump has given ByteDance 90 days to either end or sell off its business in the U.S. He has mentioned in the order his concerns that "ByteDance might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.”.
The Trump Administration claimed that the Chinese owned company, ByteDance, is attempting to share information of U.S. citizens with the Government of China. The company, however, denied these claims.
Trump had also earlier issued an order that would have blocked all U.S. transactions with ByteDance. While TikTok earlier had a deadline of 20 September, it has now been extended to 12 November.
According to the requirements of the latest executive order, ByteDance will have to destroy all the data it has of the U.S. users, and then report it to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Furthermore, it will also have to destroy all the data that it acquired from TikTok precursor app Musical.ly, which ByteDance had bought in 2017.
Meanwhile, TikTok stated in an email to The Verge that the app is loved by 100 million Americans and is a source of entertainment, self-expression, and connection for people. TikToK further expressed its commitment to continue bringing happiness to families and create meaningful careers for content creators on its platform.
Furthermore, Microsoft and ByteDance were in talks about Microsoft acquiring TikTok, although Bill Gates didn't quite seem to be in favor of the plan as he called it a "poisoned chalice". In the midst of these talks, Twitter also showed interest in acquiring TikTok. However, Microsoft stated that it would expectedly complete the discussions by 15 September.
