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Tik Tok Deal Approved by POTUS Allows China to Maintain Ownership

Wait…what?

The story of social media bombshell Tik Tok has taken a tawdry turn this week, after President Trump announced that a new deal had been struck to have US companies purchase the application.

Tik Tok is a video sharing platform that fell into favor with teens and preteens, allowing them a number of tools to produce short, self-made movies to be shared across the incredibly popular platform.  Concerns arose, however, about the Chinese government use of the application to spy on America’s youth via their smartphones, and soon the President had threatened to ban the app if China wouldn’t sell their stake in the company.

Over the weekend, news broke that Walmart and Oracle were teaming up to take over Tik Tok, satisfying Donald Trump demands.  By Monday, however, something fishy seemed to be going on.

President Trump has approved a deal that would create a partnership between the Chinese app TikTok and Oracle and Walmart to manage TikTok’s operation in America. TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, will own a majority share of the company and maintain ownership of TikTok’s all-important algorithms.

CNBC reports that President Trump recently approved a deal in which Oracle and Walmart will partner with the popular Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok in the United States, allowing the app to continue to operate within the country.

Speaking to reporters on the White House South Lawn before departing for North Carolina, President Trump stated: “I have given the deal my blessing — if they get it done that’s great, if they don’t that’s okay too. I approved the deal in concept.”

Trump believed that the deal would bring tens of thousands of new jobs to the US, where the Tik Tok cloud would likely be located after the deal comes to fruition.

The fact that Bytedance will still have a hefty influence on the application is troubling, however, and will be something that the President will likely be asked to explain in the coming days.

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