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The US Treasury Department said on Wednesday it wants a resolution of national security concerns it has raised over China-based ByteDance’s acquisition of US social media app Musical.ly, which it then merged into video-sharing app TikTok.
The statement came a day after China-based ByteDance filed a petition with the US Court of Appeals in Washington challenging a Trump administration order set to take effect on Thursday requiring it to divest TikTok unless it can reach agreement with US regulators or win an extension.
“The Treasury Department remains focused on reaching a resolution of the national security risks arising from ByteDance’s acquisition of Musical.ly,” Treasury spokeswoman Monica Crowley said. “We have been clear with ByteDance regarding the steps necessary to achieve that resolution.”
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Personal data concern
The divestiture order was based on a government review of ByteDance's acquisition of Musical.ly in 2017. The Trump administration contends the merged entity poses national security concerns as the personal data of US users could be obtained by China’s government. TikTok, which has over 100 million US users, denies the allegations.
ByteDance has been in talks for a deal with Walmart Inc and Oracle Corp to shift TikTok’s US assets into a new entity called TikTok Global. It said on Tuesday it was requesting a 30-day extension so that it can finalise terms. Trump said in September the deal had his “blessing.”
Separate restrictions on TikTok from the US Commerce Department have been blocked by federal courts, including restrictions on transactions that were scheduled to take effect Thursday that TikTok warned could effectively ban the app’s use in the US.
A ban on Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google offering TikTok for download for new US users has also been blocked by federal judges.
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