The American President Donald Trump has reportedly raised questions about plans by ByteDance Limited to keep most of the stakes in US operations of popular short video platform TikTok after six Republican senators requested him to reject the deal.
Mr. President said that he would be informed on Thursday about a deal that calls for Oracle Corporation to become a ‘trusted technology partner’ for TikTok’s American operations, but he didn’t support the idea of having the Chinese company retain maximum control.
Six Republic senators including Marco Rubio cast a doubt on the Oracle-TikTok deal and urged the Trump administration to discard the deal as long as ties remained to ByteDance. In a letter to Trump, Mr. Rubio cited concerns regarding Oracle’s role in TikTok, the technology it will provide to ByteDance, and the future of the app’s algorithm.
Senator Ted Cruz also sent a separate letter to the President arguing that the deal ‘didn’t meet the intent of the Trump’s executive orders and raises serious security concerns’
US security officials fear that TikTok’s parents could offer user data to the Chinese government. However, Trump may not want to distance 100 million American TikTok users so close to the November 3 elections.
Mr. Trump had earlier warned the company to ban TikTok unless its American operations were sold to an American company and the government received some amount from proceeds.
On Monday, Oracle announced that it has concluded the TikTok deal and will cater as a ‘trusted technology partner’ to the Chinese company, offering no further details on terms and conditions of the deals.
Meanwhile, China recently has updated its export control rules regarding the transfer of technology, like TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, to a global buyer. Chinese government officials have commented that ByteDance should not be forced by the Trump administration into signing a deal.
Source Credit - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/sep/17/tiktok-trump-questions-oracle-deal-if-bytedance-keeps-stake