Donald Trump gave TikTok owner ByteDance 90 days to divest itself from the U.S. arm of its business in an order signed Friday evening.
The move represents an escalation of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to undermine Chinese financial interests in the U.S., as part of a years-long trade dispute with the Asian country. The new order joins another one issued earlier in August that gave U.S. companies 45 days to cease doing business with ByteDance (as well as WeChat owner Tencent).
“There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that ByteDance … might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,” the Trump-endorsed order reads. The evidence alluded to in the above statement isn’t discussed in the text of the order, though there are concerns that a 2017 Chinese law which requires China-based companies to share data with authorities as requested could put U.S. users at risk. Read more…
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