TikTok’s long-awaited deal appears to be complete after President Trump gave the go-ahead earlier today. Oracle CEO Safra Catz decided to help clear the air during a very confusing conversation on Twitter today. The entire TikTok saga has been a roller-coaster ride since the word go. First Trump dropped the idea casually on Air Force One and then most of the tech industry scrambled to get in line for a chance to buy the company’s American branch. From there, it looked like Microsoft had pole position, but Oracle swooped in after terms couldn’t be reached. Now, some of the teens and other users out there won’t have to wonder what is going to happen tomorrow when the app was supposed to be banned. Challenges and dances are here to stay it seems.
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“We are a hundred percent confident in our ability to deliver a highly secure environment to TikTok and ensure data privacy to TikTok’s American users, and users throughout the world,” Catz said via a statement. “This greatly improved security and guaranteed privacy will enable the continued rapid growth of the TikTok user community to benefit all stakeholders.”
Comicbook.com’s Nicole Drum has been all over this story from the first weekend when it was announced. She broke it down like this:
“Earlier this summer, Trump said that he would ban TikTok in the United States over potential national security risks, specifically over the question of data security. First launched by Chinese internet technology company ByteDance in 2017, TikTok first became available in the united states on August 2, 2018 following a merger with the short lip-sync video app Musical.ly. The TikTok app soon became popular in the United States, though last fall U.S. lawmakers began questioning how safe it and other Chinese-owned platforms are,” Drum explained. “At that time, Senators Chuck Schumer and Tom Cotton asked the U.S. intelligence community to assess the possible national security risks of TikTok, noting that the app (and others like it) could potentially be used to spy on American citizens or be in foreign influence campaigns.”
She continued, “While Trump’s approval of Oracle’s purchase of TikTok is likely to bring relief to users, it’s worth noting that it’s not yet a done deal. The Chinese government also has to sign off on the sale in order for it to go forward. It’s unclear what Trump’s approval for the deal means for the impending ban of new downloads of TikTok set to go into effect on Sunday. though it’s reported that Beijing will sign off on the deal so long as ByteDance doens’t have to transfer the artificial algorithms that are at the heart of TikTok’s service.”
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