WSJ News Exclusive | TikTok Sale to Oracle, Walmart Is Shelved as Biden Reviews Security
John D. McKinnon and Alex Leary 9-12 minutes WASHINGTON—A U.S. plan to force the sale of TikTok’s American operations to a group including Oracle Corp. ORCL 0.89% and Walmart Inc. WMT 0.55% has been shelved indefinitely, people familiar with the situation said, as President Biden undertakes a broad review of his predecessor’s efforts to address potential security risks from Chinese tech companies. The TikTok deal—which had been driven by then-President Donald Trump—has languished since last fall in the midst of successful legal challenges to the U.S. government’s effort by TikTok’s owner, China’s ByteDance Ltd. Discussions have continued between representatives of ByteDance and U.S. national security officials, the people said. Those discussions have centered on data security and ways to prevent the information TikTok collects on American users from being accessed by the Chinese government, they said. But no imminent decision on how to resolve the issues surrounding TikTok is expected as the Biden administration determines its own response to the potential security risk posed by Chinese tech companies’ collection of data. “We plan to develop a comprehensive approach to securing U.S. data that addresses the full range of threats we face,” National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said. “This includes the risk posed by Chinese apps and other software that operate in the U.S. In the coming months, we expect to review specific cases in light of a comprehensive understanding of the risks we face.” Mr. Trump last year ordered a ban on TikTok aimed at forcing a sale of the popular video-sharing app to a majority-U.S.-ownership group. A few days later, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.—an interagency group that monitors security risks in cross-border business deals—formally ordered ByteDance to divest itself of U.S. operations. TikTok asked a federal appeals court in Washington in November to vacate the divestiture order, calling it arbitrary and capricious. TikTok said it was prepared to discuss other ways to address the government’s security concerns. While that case is pending, separate federal court rulings have blocked the government from shutting TikTok down. The most recent ruling on Dec. 7 said Mr. Trump’s executive order likely overstepped his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Talks between the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and TikTok to resolve the situation have continued, according to the people familiar with the matter, one of whom said possible solutions include use of a trusted third party to manage TikTok’s data, which wouldn’t require an outright sale. < - > https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-sale-to-oracle-walmart-is-shelved-as-biden-reviews-security-11612958401 _______________________________________________ Infowarrior mailing list [email protected] https://attrition.org/mailman/listinfo/infowarrior
