The United States president announced a new deal that would allow TikTok to continue running in the country as the company reached an agreement with Oracle and Wal-Mart to keep its operations alive.
TikTok was scheduled to be removed from app stores and future update considerations in the US on Sunday, September 20, after the Trump administration initially issued an executive order on August 6 to investigate the social site’s security.
On September 14, Oracle became the favorites to take over the app’s operations in the United States, after TikTok parent-company, Bytedance, turned down Microsoft’s $30 billion bid. Now the President of the United States said that the viral app will continue after approving the new deal.
“TikTok is moving along,” the president announced on Saturday. “We’re dealing with Oracle and Wal-Mart. The security will be 100%, they will be using separate clouds and a lot of very, very powerful security.”
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He also said that a new company will form in Texas that will be shaped by US-based entities, although the name of the app will remain unchanged for the time being. The announcement just means that he is essentially “giving (his) blessing” to a proposed deal between the three companies, although no details have been released.
“I have given the deal my blessing, if they get it done that’s great, if they don’t that’s okay too,” the President said. “I approved the deal in concept.”
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Oracle provides cloud infrastructure for services and would presumably take over those operations for the app if a deal is reached. Meanwhile, throughout the negotiation process, Wal-Mart had maintained that it was interested in investing in TikTok.
TikTok issues a statement after it was announced that it could resume in the US after the concerns over security issues.
“As part of this proposal, Oracle will become our trusted technology provider, responsible for hosting all US user data and securing associated computer systems to ensure US national security requirements are fully satisfied,” the company said.
Wal-Mart is expected to become a commercial partner for TikTok as part of the discussions.
TikTok stars like Charli D’Amelio, Chase Hudson, and more expressed their concern for a potential ban. Many made videos asking for the government to reconsider and were met with thousands of fans voicing their support for the site.
The full shutdown of TikTok was going to come a couple of months after the deadline on November 12 if a deal could not be reached. This is great news for fans of the app, and interested parties will await the details of the deal between Bytedance, Oracle, and Wal-Mart to keep the app on in the US.
