Microsoft said on Sunday that it would continue discussions to acquire popular short-video app TikTok from Chinese internet giant ByteDance, and that it was aiming to conclude the negotiations by Sept. 15. The announcement came after Trump had said on Friday that he would soon ban TikTok in the United States. Several prominent Republican lawmakers put out statements in the last two days urging Trump to back a sale of TikTok to Microsoft. TikTok says it does not censor videos and it would not give the Chinese government access to U.S. user data. The debate over TikTok parallels a broader U.S. security crackdown on Chinese companies, including telecom providers Huawei and ZTE.

Source: CBC News August 02, 2020 23:52 UTC