Trump says US may ban' China-owned video app TikTok

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration is weighing action against TikTok, a popular Chineseowned video app that has been a source of nationalsecurity and censorship concerns.

Trump's comments came after published reports that the administration is planning to order China's ByteDance to sell TikTok. There were also reports Friday that software giant Microsoft is in talks to buy the app.

“We are looking at Ti kTok ,” Trump told reporters at t he White House. “We may be banning TikTok. We may be doing some other things. There a couple of options, but a lot of things are happening. So we'll see what happens.”

Reports by Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal citing anonymo us sources said the administration could soon announce a decision ordering ByteDance to divest its ownership in TikTok.

There have been reports of U.S. tech giants and financial firms being interested in buying or investing in TikTok as the Trump administration sets its sights on the app. The New York Times and Fox Business, citing an unidentified source, reported Friday that Microsoft is in talks to buy TikTok. Microsoft declined to comment.

TikTok issued a statement Friday saying that, “While we do not comment on rumors or speculation, we are confident in the long-term success of TikTok.”

Byte Dance launched TikTok in 2017, then bought Musical.ly, a video service popular with teens in the U.S. and Europe, and combined the two. A twin service, Douyin, is available for Chinese users.

Ti k Tok' s fun, goofy videos and ease of use has made it immensely popular, and U.S. tech giants like Facebook and Snapchat see it as a competitive threat. It has said it has tens of millions of U.S. users and hundreds of millions globally.