US tech company Oracle have reportedly obtained the rights to TikTok in the US, rather than Microsoft as many had suspected would be the case.
TikTok is a video sharing app that debuted in 2016; and quickly grew to prominence as people uploaded short comedy skits, dance routines, and singing. By July 2020, it had an estimated 800 million active monthly users, making it the seventh most popular social network.
However, many took issues with the app’s owner ByteDance- a Chinese company. As previously reported, accusations of censorship on topics the Chinese government did not approve of and privacy concerns came to a head with President Trump.
President Trump stated to journalists “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.” Later, Microsoft confirmed they were “committed to acquiring TikTok” with US government oversight.
On August 6th, President Trump signed an executive order which banned any transaction involving Tencent and ByteDance. The LA Times later reported “A White House official on Thursday night clarified that the executive order concerning WeChat only blocks transactions related to WeChat, not those involving other Tencent holdings.”
Now, the New York Times reports that ByteDance have chosen Oracle as the new US operator of the app over Microsoft. This was “according to Microsoft officials and other people involved in the negotiation.”
This also includes an official statement from Microsoft, though it did not mention who acquired TikTok over them. “ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft. We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests.”
Those who spoke to the New York Times claimed it was unclear whether Oracle would have a majority ownership of the App in the US. A spokeswoman for Oracle “did not immediately respond to a request for comment” to the New York Times.”
The New York Times also propose that if Oracle close the deal, Chinese official may “create new obstacles to the process.” President Trump called Oracle a “great company” last month. Their specialty is tools for database development, and business-based software.
They reportedly had previously tried to win a $10 billion contract for the Pentagon’s cloud services. That was ultimately won by Microsoft.
This is Niche Gamer Tech. In this column, we regularly cover tech and things related to the tech industry. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s tech or a story you want us to cover!
Image: Wikipedia
