US President Donald Trump said a deal to sell TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, would be agreed upon by Saturday's deadline.
The president’s April 5 deadline was set in January, when he took office. By then, ByteDance had to find a buyer for TikTok’s U.S. business outside of China or face a ban on national security grounds.
Speaking to the press aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening, Mr Trump noted that “we have a lot of potential buyers,” there is “significant interest in TikTok,” and that he “wants to keep TikTok going.”
TikTok's current non-Chinese shareholders have reportedly emerged as leading candidates to acquire the company's US business, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance.
Last year, the U.S. passed a law requiring ByteDance to sell the video platform, which is used by about 170 million Americans, or face a ban in the country over concerns that the Chinese government could use the app for influence or intelligence operations against the U.S. and to collect data on U.S. users.
TikTok has always denied any suggestion of influence from Beijing.
Mr Trump has previously acknowledged that any deal to sell TikTok would likely require approval from the Chinese government, and last week hinted that he would be willing to cut tariffs on China as an incentive to complete the deal.
During his first term, Trump supported the idea of banning TikTok, but later reversed his stance and signed up for the platform, noting that it helped him attract young voters during his presidential campaign last year.
Social media experts have previously suggested that TikTok's demise in the U.S. could have a significant impact on the app in other regions, as a vast market of content creators would suddenly be unable to publish on the platform.
It is also expected that such a scenario will lead to significant changes in the social media landscape as American content creators migrate to other apps.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
