TikTok offers to sell US arm to avoid ban

THE Chinese owner of TikTok has made a last-ditch attempt to avoid an American ban on the controversial app by offering to sell its entire US business.

President Trump said on Friday he was preparing to bar the video-sharing app, which is hugely popular among teenagers, amid concerns that user data could be passed to the Chinese Communist Party.

Beijing-based ByteDance has been looking at ways of preventing TikTok being outlawed in America, including selling the US business to quell national security fears. It had hoped to keep a stake in its US arm, but has ditched the idea, reports claimed.

American tech giant Microsoft is talking to ByteDance about buying TikTok’s US operations. It is unclear whether ByteDance’s peace offering will placate the White House as some US officials only want a complete ban.

Mr Trump said on Friday: ‘As far as TikTok is concerned we’re banning them from the United States.’ He also said he did not favour a sale of most of the US company to any American firm. Last month, The Mail on Sunday reported that TikTok’s plans to set up its global headquarters in the UK were on hold amid uncertainty about its future in the US. Sources said making it an American company – and setting up its HQ there – might be the only way to appease Mr Trump.

The firm wants to establish an HQ outside China to distance itself from the Chinese state, which can ask internet firms to hand over user data.

TikTok denies it is a security risk and says it has never handed data to the Chinese government and would refuse to if asked. A ban in the US could mean TikTok can still operate elsewhere, including Britain, where it launched in 2018 and has around six million users. However, Sino-sceptic Tory MPs have also called for Britain to ban TikTok.

Iain Duncan Smith MP said it was ‘as much a threat as Huawei’ – the Chinese telecoms giant barred by Boris Johnson from Britain’s 5G network.

Yesterday, Vanessa Pappas, the US general manager of TikTok, told American users it was ‘here for the long run’ and staff were building ‘the safest app’.

A TikTok spokesman said: ‘We are confident in the longterm success of TikTok.’