TikTok: Between takeover and ban, social network’s fate in Microsoft’s hands

This is the soap opera of the beginning of August. Since mid-July Donald Trump and his administration have gone to war against TikTokArguing that the Chinese social network is one threat to national securityAlready in June 2020, India took the radical decision to ban TikTok, as well as 50 other applications, on its territory for similar reasons.

It was precisely New Delhi’s decision that strengthened the Trump administration’s desire to take down TikTok and WeChat. That’s why the Chinese social network found itself backed against the wall, but there was a way out: to be acquired by an American company. But on the night of July 31 to August 1, we learned that Microsoft begins talks to buy TikTok.

Microsoft is the savior of TikTok

Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino explains that the American government is currently doing everything possible to pressure ByteDance (editor’s note: TikTok’s parent company) Will sell 100 percent of its operations to an American company. Microsoft is at the top of the list of potential buyers. For the Redmond company, this acquisition could very well be deal of the century.

The American giant has never managed to break into the world of social or community networks. The dismal failure of Mixer, the streaming platform that aimed to compete with Twitch, is a perfect example. That’s why Microsoft wants Buy TikTok in AmericaThis will allow ByteDance to separate from its North American subsidiary and maintain its operations in China.

Towards a blacklist like Huawei?

If this possibility were to be analyzed by the American administration, Donald Trump has pushed everything aside with his presidencyJust hours after the takeover rumors, Potus said on Air Force One:As for TikTok, we will ban them in the United States […] “I have this authority by administrative order.”

In other words, Even a partial purchase will not be enough to satisfy the American president. Complete takeover or ban, these are the only possibilities presented to TikTok. For now, it is impossible to know how Donald Trump could proceed. Some analysts say the president could Blacklist TikTokJust like Huawei did.

In fact, American companies such as Apple and Google would no longer have the right to work with the Chinese social network. The application would disappear from the App Store and Google Play Store. TikTok’s survival would be particularly complicated, deprived of the support of two American companies.

Source: Twitter