President Donald Trump has recently signed anexecutive order to ban TikTokin the United States, citing security concerns over the mega popular Chinese-developed social media app. The TikTok ban would go into effect on September 15 if the company is unable to find a US buyer, with the latest company throwing its hat in the ring being none other than Twitter.
According to a new report by The Wall Street Journal,TikTokand Twitter have had talks about a “potential combination” that would see the two social media giants join forces. Twitter has far less purchasing power than other companies bidding for control over TikTok, but as stated by Fox Business, there would potentially be less antitrust issues if Twitter was going to buy the company due its comparatively smaller size. This would in turn speed up the process and give TikTok a chance to sell its US operations before the ban goes into effect on September 15.
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Besides Twitter, the other major tech company that is hoping to buy TikTok is none other thanMicrosoft. Ever since reports of a potential TikTok ban surfaced, Microsoft has consistently been one of the most consistently mentioned possibilities to buy the social media app. It seems discussions are still ongoing, however, now that Twitter is involved.
It’s no surprise that many different companies are wanting to take control of TikTok. The social media app is a massive hit worldwide, with hundreds of millions of daily users. A variety of celebrities,video game companies, and more have started using TikTok to promote their brands, and the app has also produced some of its own stars, not unlike Vine did years ago. It appears as though TikTok may be a permanent pillar in the social media space akin to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, assuming it is able to avoid being banned.
While the US government has said that it wants to ban TikTok because of security concerns, there are other theories floating around online. One theory that has gained traction is thatTrump wants to ban TikTokto get back at users of the app. For the uninitiated, TikTok users managed to trick the Trump administration into thinking that significantly more people were going to attend his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, only for a fraction of the expected guests to turn up. This gave Trump bad optics on TV, as it gave the appearance that people weren’t really interested in attending his rally. That being said, there have been efforts by US government groups to ban TikTok for quite some time, so it’s possible that this is just a coincidence.
Whatever the reason, theTikTok banwill go into effect on September 15 unless Twitter, Microsoft, or some other company purchases it.
