By Jerry Dunleavy
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/author/jerry-dunleavy
Microsoft will continue to explore a purchase of Chinese-owned TikTok amid concerns about the popular video-sharing social network’s possible ties to the Chinese Communist Party, the company announced Sunday after CEO Satya Nadella spoke with President Trump.
“Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President’s concerns,” Microsoft said in a blog post two days after Trump told reporters on Air Force One he planned to ban TikTok in the United States.
“It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury," the statement added. "Microsoft will move quickly to pursue discussions with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in a matter of weeks, and in any event completing these discussions no later than September 15, 2020. During this process, Microsoft looks forward to continuing dialogue with the United States Government, including with the President.”
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has been alerted that Microsoft is exploring a possible purchase of TikTok’s operations in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand from the app's Chinese parent company ByteDance, Microsoft said.
The plan, according to Microsoft, is to add “world-class security, privacy, and digital safety protections” and the operating model for the service “would be built to ensure transparency to users as well as appropriate security oversight by governments in these countries.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/microsoft-exploring-purchase-of-chinese-owned-tiktok-after-talk-with-trump