It is increasingly evident that if TikTok wants to survive in the United States, the only alternative left to its parent company, ByteDance, is to sell the application. As reported exclusively ‘NPR’which is the North American country’s public broadcasting service, the White House is working on a plan for the platform to become the property of a group of investors and companies including Oraclewhich already performs functions as a technology provider for TikTok, and Microsoft.
According to people with knowledge of the negotiations, if there is a deal the conglomerate will take control of the ‘app’ at a global level. ByteDance would retain a minority stake, but the app’s algorithm, data collection and software updates, which are what Washington is most worried about and why the threat of a ban hangs over the app, will be monitored. by Oracle. With this, it is expected, legislators’ fear that the ‘app’ could be exploited by the Government of China to access data of the inhabitants of the United States and launch large-scale disinformation campaigns would disappear.
At the moment, it is unknown what role Microsoft would play if the agreement ends up coming to fruition. The company that created Windows was already mentioned as a possible owner of TikTok in 2020, when, at the end of his first term, re-elected President Donald Trump already tried to force the social network to get rid of its ties with China to continue operating in the country. However, at that time, the one that came closest to closing an agreement was Oracle. Now it seems that the firm co-founded by tycoon Larry Ellison is once again in the lead to become the owner of the app.
Always according to ‘NPR’, Oracle held a meeting in Washington last Friday to discuss the possible purchase with the White House. It is expected that there will be new meetings throughout this week in which an attempt will be made to bring positions closer together. The technology company would be willing to invest “tens of billions of dollars” in acquiring the application. A few days ago, Donald Trump already stated that he would not put any impediment to the company, this time, taking control of TikTok.
Be that as it may, what is clear is that the platform will not be cheap. TikTok is the favorite social network for users in their teens and twenties and has a base of about 1.7 billion Internet users around the world. In 2022, Elon Musk agreed to purchase Twitter, now X, in exchange for $44 billion. The tool had suffered million-dollar losses for years and had 400 million users, many fewer than the Chinese service.
Apple and Google don’t play it
While the purchase of the app is debated, the future of TikTok in the United States continues to hang by a thread. A week ago, the platform stopped working for a few hours in the United States after the law, approved by Congress last April, came into effect, which seeks to force ByteDance to sell the jewel in its crown or stop operating in the country. Donald Trump had to appear with the promise of signing an executive order that supposedly extends the Chinese technology company’s deadline for divestment by 75 days so that it could decide to resume the service.
The congressional law establishes daily million-dollar fines for companies that continue to allow access to TikTok. Although Trump’s order emphasizes that companies that allow the app to function correctly will not be penalized, not all have done their part. Apple and Googleowners of the two application stores par excellence, still do not allow downloading of the platform on smartphones to this day. This implies that TikTok has stopped seeing how the number of Internet users it has on American soil, currently about 170 million, continues to grow. They are also not having access to the latest updates to the tool.
In recent days, numerous jurists have questioned whether the president’s order is valid to stop the law, since it establishes that in order for the blockade period to be extended, it is necessary for ByteDance to be finalizing a sales agreement with national investors. . A scenario that, at least for now, has not been reached. It would not be ruled out that Trump’s movement will soon have to face judicial scrutiny; which could result in companies that have allowed access and downloads of TikTok to have to pay ruinous fines, probably in the tens of billions of euros.
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