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Trump reportedly still wants U.S. government to get paid in proposed TikTok sale

By Aaron Mamiit Published April 25, 2023

President Donald Trump is reportedly still pushing for the U.S. government to receive a payment in Oracle’s proposed deal to acquire TikTok.

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Trump spoke to Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on Friday over the phone, while he decides whether to approve the transaction with TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Trump has previously expressed his wish for the U.S. government to receive a significant cash payment as part of the sale of TikTok. However, it remains unclear how that will happen, and under what terms.

In the proposed deal, Oracle and ByteDance will create TikTok Global, a new company that aims to resolve the national security concerns about the video-sharing app due to its Chinese ownership.

Walmart remains in play even after the failed bid of partner Microsoft to buy TikTok’s U.S. assets, as it is also interested in investing. It may secure one seat on TikTok Global’s board of directors, a source told Bloomberg.

Digital Trends has reached out to Oracle to try to secure confirmation of Trump’s phone call with Ellison and the company’s comments on the possible payment to the U.S. government, and we will update this article as soon as we hear back.

TikTok, WeChat banned from U.S. app stores

TikTok, along with messaging app WeChat, will be banned from U.S. app stores starting Sunday, September 20, following the executive order issued by Trump in August. The app will continue to function, but it may be shut down entirely if there is no deal in place to sell it to a U.S. company by November 12.

Meanwhile, TikTok is planning to dispute the executive order, calling it “unjust.”

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TikTok took down over 104 million videos in the first half of 2020

TikTok’s popularity has soared in the last few months but that has come at a cost: Its content moderation team is struggling to keep the video platform free of spam and malicious content. As per TikTok’s latest transparency report, it had to take down more videos than ever in the first half of 2020 (January-June) for violating its guidelines and fielded an increasing number of government requests for user information.

Over 104 million videos were removed from TikTok across the world in the first six months of this year, more than double from the second half of 2019. About 37 million of these were from India followed by nearly 10 million in the United States.

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Bytedance says it will own 80% of TikTok Global, contradicting Trump’s claims

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Shortly after President Donald Trump “gave his blessing” to TikTok’s U.S. sale, he claimed the deal completely addresses his administration’s national security concerns and “has nothing to do with China.” However, a new statement released by Bytedance, the Chinese startup that owns TikTok, appears to contradict Trump's claims (via CNBC).

Bytedance says it will retain a substantial 80% stake in TikTok Global, a new subsidiary of the video app for the U.S. market in which both Oracle and Walmart will also be minority holders.

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Judge rules that U.S. government can’t force WeChat off app stores

apple tencent wechat tip deal

TikTok is not the only Chinese app to have been saved from a ban at the last minute this weekend: WeChat won't be banned from app stores tomorrow either.

A judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from forcing either Apple or Google to remove the WeChat apps from their app stores, Reuters reports. The judge, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler, said that a ban would cause hardship and that forcing it would “burden substantially more speech than is necessary to serve the government’s significant interest in national security, especially given the lack of substitute channels for communication.”