Trump reaffirms commitment to data security, says decision on TikTok soon

Washington, September 19

US President Donald Trump has asserted that data security of Americans is of the highest importance to him and a decision on the future of Chinese video sharing application TikTok will be taken soon.

Last month, Trump had signed an executive order to ban TikTok and WeChat by September 15 unless the ownership of the two Chinese companies changed to American.

Beginning September 20, the US will ban any provision of service to distribute or maintain WeChat or TikTok mobile applications, citing them as prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.

“We’re looking at, most importantly, the security. And we’re going to make a fairly fast decision. I don’t think we have to delay it too much, but we have some great companies and some very great interests. It’s a pretty incredible asset,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.

Technology giants Microsoft, Oracle and Walmart are in talks with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, for a deal.

“We’re going to take a look. They’re going to be showing me everything in a little while on TikTok. And we have some great companies who want to buy it, and we’re looking at those companies,” Trump told reporters in response to a question.

“So, we have some great options, and maybe we can keep a lot of people happy but have the security that we need. We have to have the total security from China. Just know we’re not going to do anything to jeopardise security,” he said.

“At the same time, it’s an amazing company, very, very popular. So if we can do a combination of both, I’d be very happy. It could go very quickly though.  It could go very, very fast,” Trump said.

ByteDance, which owns TikTok, has denied allegations that it shares users’ data with Beijing. Several US companies like Google and Apple have opposed the bans. PTI