Regardless of how active or inactive you might be on social media, you’ve probably at least heard of the app called TikTok — and maybe even seen (or danced along with) some of the most popular music and parody videos that users have produced.
The content platform has been a subject of controversy since 2019, when critics issued concerns that the app — which is owned by a China-based company and has been downloaded 165+ million times in the US — posed potential privacy and national security threats.
This past summer, the US State Department considered banning TikTok + warned the company to sell its US operations to avoid being shut down as soon as September 20.
Major players such as Microsoft and WalMart were considered as buyers — but on Sunday, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, confirmed a deal with the technology company Oracle (which has a heavy operations presence in Morrisville), calling it a “trusted technology provider.”
As a result of the deal being reached, a proposal was submitted to the US government for approval. According to Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin, the proposal also includes a commitment to headquarter TikTok’s global operations in the US + create 20,000 new jobs. CNBC reported yesterday that Trump administration officials will approve the deal.
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