Trump approves Oracle, Walmart deal for TikTok, Fact-checker calls the person who sent him a death threat. The White House did not provide a comment. It asserted that ByteDance cooperates with the Chinese government, which can compel the company to turn over information. That deal remains uncertain, however; Oracle, ByteDance and Trump disagree on the ownership structure of the new company. A news release published by Walmart on Saturday on its website — then edited later — captured the chaos. “Ekejechb ecehggedkrrnikldebgtkjkddhfdenbhbkuk.”. On Thursday, a US judge ordered the Trump administration to either postpone its, Beijing also still needs to weigh in on a deal that would see, So the saga is far from over. The sharpest criticism was reserved for how the deal came about. ByteDance has said it would still own a majority of the company, whereas Oracle said the Chinese company would own none. And there is plenty more the U.S. government could do to ensure that TikTok plays a responsible role in our information ecosystem without getting rid … It has proposed an arrangement that would create a new entity, called TikTok Global, that would include investments from Oracle and Walmart. “This appears as though what passes for process is what pleases one man: Donald J. Trump.”, Until Saturday, TikTok was among those questioning the legality of Mr. Trump’s executive order. During a rare Sunday hearing, he questioned whether TikTok had been given enough opportunity to defend itself before Trump issued an executive order last month barring the app from online stores. "US' highway robbery of TikTok completely violates market principles and the spirit of the rule of law. In opposing the request for a preliminary injunction, the Justice Department laid out its national security concerns more clearly than it had done previously. TikTok has roughly 100 million users in the United States, and Trump claims the app gives Beijing access to the personal data of Americans. On Saturday, the Chinese government enacted a new system for blacklisting foreign companies and restricting their business activities in the country. There have been so many twists and turns in the saga of the app that each development can feel as fleeting as its 15-second videos. “But this is not an isolated example of the U.S. government using security as an excuse to exercise control over the internet.”, Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat of Virginia who is skeptical of Chinese technology companies, said in a speech on Wednesday that prohibiting certain technologies from the United States must be done “honestly.” But, he added, the “haphazard actions on TikTok fail that test and will only invite retaliation against American companies.”. A source familiar with the negotiations told CNN Business earlier this week that ByteDance wasn't concerned about regulatory approval. They rose 12% to 247,000 in the United … TikTok enables everyone to be a creator, and encourages users to share their … By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Reporter covering breaking news in technology, give Oracle control of TikTok’s technical operations. At different points, Mr. Trump also said the government deserved a cut of any deal. In an upbeat video shared on social media on Saturday, Vanessa Pappas, the app’s interim chief executive, said she was “thrilled” about the deal. The Chinese government, which has long cited national security as one reason it heavily censors the internet at home, said on Monday that TikTok did not pose a threat to the United States. Trump has positioned himself as the kingmaker of any TikTok deal, making clear that he must agree to the terms before anything is made official. Mr. Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for his executive orders to block TikTok from the United States. ‘There’s No There There’: What the TikTok Deal Achieved. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices Copyright S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates. The Chinese messaging service WeChat, which was granted an injunction last weekend, may have as many as 19 million users in the United States, according to the ruling last weekend by U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler. Though a ban has been averted for now, fears about restrictions have already sent TikTok downloads soaring. Oracle and Walmart would own a cumulative 20 percent stake in TikTok Global, which said it planned to hire 25,000 people in the United States over an undisclosed period and go public sometime in the next year. The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. As the situation continues to evolve, TikTok's tens of millions of US users worry they could lose access to one of their favorite products. It was the first time the law has been used against a technology company. But the outcome could set the tone for the future of US-China relations and create a precedent for businesses trying to navigate. The Commerce Department said in a statement late Sunday that it would comply with the judge’s decision but that the executive order is “fully consistent with the law and promotes legitimate national security interests.” It said it would “vigorously defend” it from legal challenges. No further details were publicly given on how the money would be provided. This fourth-grader doesn't have WiFi at home. Oracle would also oversee the app and could verify the security of TikTok’s code and any updates. Everywhere At The End Of Time, The Caretaker's crushing six-and-a-half-hour album exploring dementia, has become an unlikely viral hit on Gen Z video-sharing platform TikTok.. Users of the social media site have been challenging each other to listen to the entire record, and documenting their response to the experience having done so. "In the end, Trump is the X-factor," Dipayan Ghosh, the co-director of the Digital Platforms and Democracy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School, told CNN Business late last week. Last weekend, a federal magistrate in San Francisco cited First Amendment issues in blocking a proposed ban of the WeChat app. Though a ban has been averted for now, fears about restrictions have already. Now, as the dust settles on the weeks of drama over the social media app, investors and others are asking what it was all for. TikTok is no longer expected to move forward with the suit. All rights reserved. The U.S. headquarters of TikTok in Culver City, Calif. A deal to acquire the company was announced on Saturday, but the details have come under scrutiny. “The premise was national security but where is the national security in this quote-unquote deal?” Professor Tobias said. TikTok has been embroiled in a push-and-pull saga with Trump for the past two months as it races to make a deal that will allow it to keep operating in the country. “Is this really about trade, or about the political benefit of trying to bash China and show how tough the administration can be?”. Vetting deals “is normally a process that involves multiple thoughtful people coming to the issue from multiple different concerns,” said Tom Wheeler, a former Democratic chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. “When there are frameworks applied consistently, one can understand the rules of the game and you maneuver within those rules,” he said. “At the same time, we will also maintain our ongoing dialogue with the government to turn our proposal, which the President gave his preliminary approval to last weekend, into an agreement," she said. The outcome is too illogical and unpredictable, said David Pakman, a partner at Venrock, a venture capital firm with offices in Silicon Valley and New York. Updated 1155 GMT (1955 HKT) September 25, 2020. Threats of retaliation. It seemed, the judge said, that “this was a largely a unilateral decision with very little opportunity for plaintiffs to be heard.”. Trump has said he will not approve the deal if ByteDance is involved. But there is still a lot of confusion over TikTok's proposed ownership structure should the deal go forward. It's been downloaded more than 2 billion times, according to research firm Sensor Tower, with 623 million downloads during the first half of this year. Last weekend, Trump gave his blessing to a deal that would give Oracle and Walmart a combined 20% stake in TikTok Global, which would be headquartered in the United States and operate the app. Trump has for weeks threatened to ban TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, on national security grounds unless an American company takes control of its US operations. Oracle and Walmart's investment will take US ownership of TikTok Global to just over half, with ByteDance's investors holding the rest. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. The agreement for the social media app falls short of President Trump’s promises. Nichols granted the injunction for the piece of the ban that was set to go into effect Sunday night, but denied a motion to halt a second aspect of the ban that doesn’t go into effect until Nov. 12. He filed his decision publicly, but his full reasoning was filed separately as a sealed document. Morningstar: Copyright 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. In August, TikTok sued the U.S. government and accused it of a lack of due process in attempting to ban the app. If that seems unusual, it's because it is. Erin Griffith reported from San Francisco and David McCabe from Washington. A forced fire sale. Head-spinning deal terms that morphed by the hour. But the deal also needs the green light from Beijing. A separate Trump executive order last month gave ByteDance until Nov. 12 to divest itself of TikTok in the United States. "Americans will be the majority and ByteDance will have no ownership in TikTok Global," said Glueck. TikTok received a reprieve of its ban from U.S. app stores on Sunday after a federal judge in Washington granted a preliminary injunction blocking an order from President Trump. Security experts said the national security threat posed by TikTok and other Chinese tech companies was certainly worthy of examination. “There’s no there there,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who focuses on federal courts and the constitution. In the deal announced on Saturday, which was spurred by Mr. Trump’s national security concerns over TikTok, the social media app said it would separate itself from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and become an independent entity called TikTok Global. US users also wouldn't be able to receive security patches or other updates, which could cause outages or glitches in the future.