Joe Biden Administration Pauses Buying “Tik Tok” Plan

 Joe Biden Administration Pauses Buying “TikTok” Plan

The Chinese-owned video app Tik Tok is one of the most popular applications as is used widely all around the world and it has got more that 100 million American users. After accusing this app of sharing American users’ data with the Beijing government, the US government started searching for the best US investor to purchases it. 

With the unexpected loss of Donald Trump in the US election to Joe Biden, the plan started to change. Joe Biden pauses the plan of purchasing this app although the world's largest database management company Oracle and Walmart were planning to buy it under the agreement of the pervious president.   

The fact that Tik Tok is owned by a Chinese company irritates the US government and makes it uncomfortable especially most of the profits of this app last year are generated by 17 billion dollars.

Charli D’Amelio the most famous tiktoker who has the highest number of followers in Tik Tok by 108 million and more than 2.5 billion likes with other American names like Dixie D’Amelio, Loren Gray, Addison Rea, Aka Spencer Knight and Bella Poarch which their profits are more than one million dollars in a year.

Tik Tok as any other application or website has steps to sign up and it is includes interring your information like name, age, your email and number. You have to allow Tik Tok to access your location and device information which is uncomfortable point to US government.

video app TikTok has published “The Last Sunny Corner of the Internet” – a website where it defends itself against the accusations of the Trump administration. “With rumors and misinformation about Tik Tok proliferating in Washington and in the media, let us set the record straight,” TikTok said on the website.

“TikTok is not available in China. Its US user data is stored in Virginia with a back-up in Singapore and strict controls on employee access. Tik Tok has never provided any US user data to the Chinese government, nor would it do so if asked. Any insinuation to the contrary is unfounded and blatantly false”, the new website reads.

It also highlights reporting from other publications to emphasis its security, such as a recent article from The New York Times that says the CIA found no evidence that Chinese intelligence agencies are using Tik Tok to intercept data from US citizens.

Moreover, analysis of TikTok’s terms and conditions by Proton mail suggests that because Tik Tok reserves the right to share user information with other members of its corporate group – which includes Byte Dance – that user data could then be shared with the Chinese government from its parent company. But it was not convincing enough.

Both Microsoft and Twitter were in the running to purchase TikTok’s US operations, as president Donald Trump believes that purchase by a “very American company” would make the app more secure, while for now the biggest chance to buy this worldwide app is to Oracle in Walmart as a partnership deal.   

And the indefinite delay, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, has been ordered by President Joe Biden’s administration, which is conducting a review of the conclusions about Tik Tok reached by Donald Trump. The former president, who waged a trade war with China and repeatedly referred to Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus,” characterized Tik Tok, which is owned by China-backed conglomerate Byte Dance, as a security threat.

The new administration has now asked for an "abeyance" - or suspension - of proceedings while it revisits whether the apps really pose a threat. The delay means the application can continue to operate in the US while new staff at government agencies "become familiar with the issues in this case", the legal documents state.

But a tentative deal unveiled by the Trump administration would make Silicon Valley giant Oracle the technology partner for Tik Tok and a stakeholder in a new entity to be known as Tik Tok Global.

For now 100 million American are waiting the big decision by the new President Joe Biden and a lot of questions involved like which the lucky company will have this successful application? When will the app be owned by an American company officially? All these questions will be answered soon. 

     Written by – Noha Batayneh