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TikTok Owners Launch Blockchain and AI company with Shanghai Dongfang Newspaper

As reported on Dec. 14, Bloomberg broke the news confirming that ByteDance and Shanghai Dongfang Newspaper Company have started a joint venture that has already secured $1.4 million in capital.

The major video-sharing social network service TikTok owned by ByteDance has begun to develop blockchain, AI and other business models to further break into emerging markets. TikTok has seen a huge rise in popularity with over 500 million monthly active users and is one of the most downloaded applications in the App Store in the U.S. – currently ranked third while making the top 10 in China’s rankings.

TikTok has continued to grow since acquiring Musical.ly, a large lip-sync video company that shows users singing to backtracks In 2017. This latest investment from ByteDance is a very clear indication that they see much more potential in the market.

The newly formed Chinese backed company has been registered under Pengpai Audiovisual Technology Co. The business is split into two, with 49% owned by ByteDance, and 51% owned by Shanghai Dongfang Newspaper company.

They will aim to provide a list of new services using Blockchain and AI for public services and Internet data, AI applications and development. Developing in blockchain opens up the possibility to further offer increased security for digital media and verification purposes for users, with social media collecting large amounts of data, big data blockchain-based securities could be the major focuses and reasons why the partnership has emerged.

It is not entirely clear what the next steps will be, as no further information has currently been released from either party. But yet again, this is another step for Chinese backed companies maturing into blockchain markets to jump further ahead of the competition. With such a major app globally paving the way, it asks the question if we will see more investment in Blockchain from others. This is an ideal opportunity to see how the markets will advance, with bigger applications and companies helping spread more awareness.

Image via Shutterstock

Trump Signs TikTok Executive Order and Seeks to Clean the Free World's Networks of China State Tech Espionage

United States President Donald Trump has issued two executive orders against Chinese social media apps TikTok and WeChat, which are suspected of sharing US citizens’ data with the Chinese Communist Party.

After weeks of President Trump and United States officials expressing concern that data from TikTok’s users in the US is being shared with the Chinese Communist Party, the White House has finally issued an executive order against the app, in addition to a second order for China-based WeChat.

US President Trump and government officials have expressed serious concerns that TikTok, which is wholly owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, is being used to collect the personal data of 80 million Americans. While TikTok representatives have denied these allegations that it shares information or it is influenced by the Chinese Government it has done little to satisfy President Trump, as evidenced by the executive orders yesterday.

According to the official White House release, the executive orders against TikTok and WeChat will take effect in 45 days. The orders will prohibit any US company or person from transacting with TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, which would most likely see the popular video social app banned from both Apple and Google’s app stores and make advertising on the app illegal regardless of where it is hosted.

The executive order against TikTok reads, “This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”

Is the Microsoft Deal Still on?

President Trump recently began to push the idea of TikTok being bought out by a US company and even set a deadline of September 15 for the deal to take place. Trump also insisted that if the sale of TikTok did occur he expected, “a very substantial portion of the price is going to have come through the Treasury of the United States.” Trump added, “The United States should be reimbursed or paid because without the United States they don’t have anything.”

Microsoft has become the frontrunner in the race to acquire the highly profitable TikTok App’s US Services. The deal could also see Microsoft reshape the landscape of social media as it would give them a new competitive advantage over the other social media giants like Facebook, Google and YouTube.

Microsoft confirmed that they are in discussions to buy TikTok’s operations in the United States as well as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand on August 3. The technology giant has been engaging with the White House on the deal that should be completed by September 15.

Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella has been in discussions with President Trump on the likely acquisition of TikTok—pledging to add more security and digital protections for American data acquired by the Chinese social video app.

“Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President’s concerns,” a statement from the company said, “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.”

While Trump seems to be open to this idea, many experts believe that Trump’s real goal with the executive order is to force ByteDance to divest its US operations, and is largely motivated by the escalating US-China trade tensions and alleged China COVID-19 cover-up.

Could Trusted Blockchain Social Apps Fill the Void if TikTok Disappears?

TikTok is undoubtedly one of the most popular apps in the world, boasting more than 2 billion downloads, with over 150 million of those occurring in the United States. ByteDance is allegedly prepared to sell 100% of TikTok’s US operations as a way to appease President Trump and keep TikTok on the global stage, which has prompted Microsoft acquisition discussions.

While Microsoft looks to step in, Block.one appears to be looking to scoop up the 80 million Gen Z dominant US subscribers of TikTok in a way that could see incredible gains for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market.

Block.one have created their own social media platform called Voice, which aims to bring alignment and transparency to social media. Representatives have been citing concerns with TikTok privacy as a reason to move to the decentralized Block.one alternative.

Blockchain.News reached out for comment from Block.One representatives, who declined to comment on the speculation but said they were monitoring the situation with TikTok.

The Great Firewall of the USA

As reported by Blockchain.News on August 6, Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State for the Trump administration has announced the launch of the expansion of the Clean Network program, outlining five new lines of defense to protect America’s critical telecommunications and technology infrastructure from untrusted Chinese state-owned enterprises like Huawei and ZTE.

The Clean Network program is the latest initiative in the Trump Administrations’ war on China’s tech invasion. The five-pronged approach aims to enhance the safeguarding of United States data and sensitive information from aggressive attacks and intrusions by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through state-owned enterprise actors.

The Trump Administration’s scrutiny of China’s tech firms and their services operating in the United States has been well documented in recent weeks as TikTok, the Chinese social media app has come under fire for alleged data sharing with the Chinese Communist Party, an allegation that parent company ByteDance Ltd has strongly denied.

Currently, over 30% of the world’s smartphone sales come from Chinese vendors Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo. The tech firms so far have been able to enjoy a relatively open mobile ecosystem, in which consumers in most countries can freely access the likes of Google, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The Clean Network program aims to flush out any transmission, control, computing, or storage equipment from untrusted IT vendors, such as Huawei and ZTE, which US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo asserted are “required to comply with directives of the Chinese Communist Party.”

The Clean Network program could serve as a firewall internationally against Chinese cyber infiltration. The initiative extends to a coalition of like-minded free countries and companies aiming to secure their critical telecommunications, cloud, data analytics, mobile apps, Internet of Things, and 5G technologies from malign actors. As announced on April 29, 2020, the 5G Clean Path will rely on only trusted telecommunications and technology vendors who are not subject to unjust or extra-judicial control by authoritarian governments, specifically China.

The initiative is strongly supported by free nations as China has increasingly come under fire for cyberattacks worldwide against other sovereign nations and intellectual property theft.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and LINK Could Benefit From Trump's TikTok Ban

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order that seeks to ban TikTok from the United States, following the controversy that the Chinese-owned app raises serious security concerns and that it collects personal information on its users.

Trump Bans TikTok, Microsoft Wants It

TikTok, which is currently owned by ByteDance LTD, has been receiving a lot of backlash lately due to the privacy concerns that were addressed by the White House. Trump has issued a ban on the video-sharing app, as it allegedly has been collecting data on its users’ security and therefore is a serious national concern for the 80 million Americans using the social platform. In light of the pandemic, Gen Z has taken to TikTok and popularized it exponentially, with TikTok boasting of more than 2 billion downloads worldwide, and over 150 million of it originating from the US.

However, with Trump’s orders, the ban will be in full effect in 45 days. This would prohibit TikTok from being uploaded from Apple and Google’s App Stores. Incidentally, though TikTok originates from China, the video-sharing app is also banned on Chinese soil.

With the app being up for grabs, tech giant Microsoft has said that they are working to acquire the TikTok from China’s ByteDance LTD. Microsoft has addressed Trump’s privacy concerns and said that it is committed to acquiring the video-sharing platform, and it will ensure that it passes a complete security review prior to adoption. The multinational tech company has also pointed out that the video-sharing app has reaped significant economic benefits for the US and the United States Treasury Department.

The Rise of Cryptocurrencies

With China and the US caught in high political tensions and the global economy undergoing an unsteady shift due to the pandemic, crypto traders are looking to secure their digital assets, with the recent bull run of digital currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Ripple (XRP) on the market.

Over the weekend, ChainLink also outdid itself and its native token LINK surged by a record-high of 52 percent. At the beginning of 2020, LINK’s price was estimated to be around $1.73, but with its recent performance on the crypto market, LINK reached an all-time high of $13,88. ChainLink has greatly benefitted from the rise of decentralized finance apps and is currently ranked sixth in terms of market capitalization on CoinMarketCap.

Branching Out to Blockchain

Due to the escalating US-China political tensions, investors appear to be increasingly seeking out alternative investments such as digital currencies, as it runs on decentralized ledgers and open source technologies. Cryptocurrencies are therefore not regulated by the State, and its open-source aspect provides security for traders.

As they run on a distributed protocol, blockchain technology might be a more secure way to diverge. While applications are attached to legal liabilities and sanctions, blockchain operates on servers and nodes worldwide. It is also harder to prohibit protocols than to ban applications, according to Forbes.

With privacy concerns being an ongoing issue that tech companies have to deal with as they find a middle ground between intrusiveness and privacy, blockchain technology has been an interesting alternative, as blockchain provides a decentralized platform, security, and lower costs. Blockchain is the underlying technology that cryptocurrencies are leveraged on, and though some countries have banned the use of cryptocurrencies, blockchain is still leveraged by companies.

Bill Gates Confused by Trump’s Terms for Microsoft TikTok Deal, Twitter Reportedly Joins Race

Microsoft may be entering the social media ecosystem should they acquire TikTok, in a deal that Bill Gates is calling a poisoned chalice. Meanwhile, Twitter is now rumored to be in talks with ByteDance—TikTok’s parent company—to potentially reclaim their old video Vines territory.

In a recent interview with Wired, Bill Gates described the potential Microsoft acquisition of TikTok as a poisoned chalice and admitted that he is confused by some of the terms set by President Trump, who suggested that the US Treasury will be expecting some cut of the deal.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Twitter is now in discussions with ByteDance over potentially acquiring TikTok’s social media video app, an ironic twist as Twitter discontinued their Vines videos which essentially had already captured the market it now is trying to buy back into at a price that will exceed its own market cap.

TikTok Goes the US Acquisition Clock

After months of President Trump and United States officials expressing concern that data from TikTok’s users in the US is being shared with the Chinese Communist Party, the White House finally issued an executive order against the app last week, in addition to second order for China-based WeChat.

As the executive order loomed, Microsoft confirmed on August 3, that they are in discussions to buy TikTok’s operations in the United States as well as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The technology giant has been engaging with the White House on the deal that should be completed by September 15.

It’s a complicated deal that would give Microsoft a big presence in the social networking space at the risk of being part of a larger trade war between the US and China.

Bill Gates is clearly wary of Microsoft’s potential TikTok acquisition, he said, “Who knows what’s going to happen with that deal,” says Gates. “It’s a poisoned chalice.” He also believes that being a major player in the social media business would open Microsoft to a whole new level of content moderation.

Gates thinks that Facebook needs some competition and was critical on the lackluster way that certain conspiracy theories about Gates and his foundation were not taken down off Facebook’s platform before they had already achieved millions of views. Nevertheless, he said that Trump killing off Facebook’s main competition is still “pretty bizarre.”

In the interview with Wired, Gates also expressed his confusion about President Trump’s assertion that the United States Treasury should receive a cut of the sale of TikTok. He said, “The principle this is proceeding on is singly strange, the cut thing, that’s doubly strange. Anyway, Microsoft will have to deal with all of that.”

Twitter Likely to Join in TikTok Bid, ByteDance May Sue

On Aug 8, it was reported by the Wall Street Journal that TikTok and Twitter have held discussions about a potential merger.

TikTok has amassed a global user of avid consumers for its short-form videos, including at least 100 million users in the US. A service eerily similar to the video Vines that Twitter discontinued on its own platform, and ironically a market it may have captured on its own if it had simply continued and enhanced the service.

According to the WSJ, Twitter and Bytedance have had preliminary talks about a merger of TikTok’s US operations—but noted that Microsoft remains the front-runner for TikTok’s business in the US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

TikTok is estimated to be worth $15billion to $50 billion with the upper estimate almost doubling Twitter market cap of $29 Billion—this effectively means that a potential merger with Twitter would just be for TikTok’s North American business. In addition, any Twitter bid for TikTok business would likely have to include additional third-party investors.

ByteDance LTD, the parent of TikTok has continually been defending itself against President Donald Trump’s pressure to force the sale of the business or potentially ban it. There are reports that the Chinese tech company will sue the Trump Administration for the recent executive order, citing it as unconstitutional. The lawsuit is expected to be filed as soon as Aug 11.

Should ByteDance file their expected lawsuit, it could throw a further spanner in the works and may even frighten off would-be buyers of TikTok.

So far, Twitter and Microsoft are the only reported interested parties for Bytedance’s business, but others will likely emerge as the clock continues to tick on the executive order.

Microsoft Loses TikTok to Tech Giant Oracle – What This Means for Bitcoin and Blockchain Industry

TikTok, the multibillion-dollar video sharing platform owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance and popularized by millennials and Gen Z, has chosen Oracle Corporation as its tech partner over Microsoft.

Trump: TikTok is a Threat to National Security

The news comes at a crucial time after US President Donald Trump had vehemently decreed that TikTok must sell its operations in the United States by September 15, stipulating that the social media app was a threat to national security due to it sneakily collecting user information, as revealed by an analysis from Wall Street Journal.

President Trump had accused TikTok, which is fully owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, of gathering information of millions of US users and of sharing the confidential data with the Chinese government. Parent company ByteDance has denied all claims directed towards it regarding data and security breach.

In order to keep the operations in the US, Microsoft had previously been working in collaboration with Walmart to acquire ownership of TikTok. However, after its offer was released, it was disclosed to Bloomberg that “Oracle Corp. is the winning bidder for a deal with TikTok’s US operations.”

US-China, Caught in a Tech and Blockchain Battle

President Trump’s previous user data breach allegations directed at TikTok come at a critical time, with presidential elections looming and set for the month of November. In addition, the US and China have been caught in a cold technology war, with the rise of blockchain and China gaining tremendous momentum in the race to be the first to release an officially regulated central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Previously, Donald Trump had publicly stated:

“As far as Tiktok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.”

Why did TikTok Pick Oracle?

Though Microsoft had jumped at the opportunity of acquiring TikTok’s US assets, which boasts of over 150 million users, the booming video-sharing application has gone another way and chosen Oracle Corp. as its tech partner in the United States. Microsoft announced in an official statement on Sept. 13:

“ByteDance let us know today that 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.”

The multinational tech company added, “We would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combatting disinformation.”

Will President Trump be Appeased?

Oracle has not released an official statement or commented on the situation yet. However, it is speculated that in partnering with ByteDance and acquiring TikTok, Oracle will conduct a restructuring of the video application. In any case, if the multibillion-dollar application was to survive in the United States market, it seems as though Oracle would have no choice but to do so, to appease President Trump’s fears of a national security breach and potential espionage from the Chinese government.

Furthermore, with Oracle in the works to buy TikTok US operations, this would enable TikTok’s data to run on Oracle’s cloud servers.

Bitcoin and Crypto Implications

At the time of writing, there is still speculation on whether Trump will be appeased with the partnership between Oracle and TikTok. If the US President decides to go forward with a ban of TikTok, this may result in other decentralized social media platforms picking up the American GenZ subscribers that were formerly subscribed to the video-sharing application. Downloaded around 2 billion times globally, TikTok boasts of approximately 100 million monthly active users in the United States.

Block.one, a high-performance blockchain platform that hosts its social media platform Voice, would be among those benefitting from a TikTok ban. If the partnership between TikTok and Oracle proves to be unsatisfactory for the White House and the Trump administration, other blockchain-based social media giants would greatly benefit. Subsequently, this may result in a cryptocurrency and Bitcoin (BTC) market boom as well.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $10,357.18, dipping by 1% since yesterday. The dip is speculated to be a result of crypto miner sell-offs, and investors are actively anticipating the digital asset’s next bull run, with Bitcoin bulls like the Winklevoss twins pumping up the price.

How Blockchain Can Benefit TikTok

There seems to be much work to be done for TikTok. According to a report released by CheckPoint Research on January 8, the dilemmas that the application encountered were – hacking of TikTok user accounts and manipulating content; deleting videos; uploading unauthorized videos; making private “hidden” videos public, and revealing personal information saved on the account, such as private email addresses.

More research seems to indicate that ByteDance could greatly benefit from leveraging blockchain as a solution to fight security problems encountered by TikTok. Employing blockchain to run its application would enable the personal data of millions of influencers and content creators worldwide to be better protected and secured through a distributed decentralized ledger. Blockchain has been increasingly adopted throughout Asia and Europe for its robustness, scalability, and overall stable architecture.

DeFi Booms – Aave Dominates

Currently, Ethereum is the most leveraged blockchain ecosystem for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and projects. The decentralized finance sector is estimated to have a total value locked (TVL) of around $8 billion, according to data from DeFi Pulse. Currently, DeFi protocol Aave is leading the pack, with a TVL of $1.50 billion at the time of writing.

Oracle Confirms Partnership with TikTok, President Trump Still Needs to Approve Deal

Oracle, the tech company that was said to have acquired TikTok’s US operations, has finally commented on the partnership and confirmed it.

Just yesterday, Oracle publicly stated that it has indeed struck a deal with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. The Chinese company had been subject to a lot of backlash from the Trump administration. Previously, US President Donald Trump has decreed that it wanted TikTok services to be banned from the country by September 15, under allegations that the popular video content app was used as a tool by the Chinese government to spy on American users. Trump had publicly condemned TikTok, saying that it illicitly collected personal data of over 80 million Americans. In a heated moment, Trump had said:

“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.”

Trump administration comments on the deal

Despite all, multinational computer tech company Oracle tech firm had managed to nab the US operations of TikTok, overtaking Microsoft’s initial plans to make a move on the trendy video-sharing platform. Though the partnership with ByteDance has been secured and confirmed, Oracle, along with TikTok, still require the US government’s approval before moving forward. Addressing the deal, US Secretary of the Treasury Department Steve Mnuchin had disclosed to CNBC:

“I will just say that from our standpoint, we’ll need to make sure that the code is, one, secure, Americans’ data is secure, that the phones are secure and we’ll be looking to have discussions with Oracle over the next few days with our technical teams.”

Microsoft leaves, Walmart wants to stay

Microsoft had previously tried to secure TikTok US operations, along with Walmart’s help; however, ByteDance seemed to be more satisfied with Oracle as a tech partner. While Microsoft has withdrawn its offer, Walmart has been reported to still be interested in investing in TikTok.

With Oracle’s collaboration, the billion-dollar video content platform will most likely go through a restructuring, in order to offer better security and privacy protection.

Will Oracle be able to appease President Trump?

Furthermore, better data protection will be essential in appeasing President Trump’s fears of privacy breaches, especially with the United States being currently entangled in a cold tech war with China and the presidential elections approaching.

To offer more security, blockchain is a viable solution for TikTok. There are indications that parent company ByteDance is already familiar with the industry, as reported by Blockchain.news last December. ByteDance had been reported to have taken an interest in blockchain, as it had started investing in the decentralized ledger technology along with other Chinese companies.

Will blockchain solve TikTok’s privacy issues?

If blockchain was implemented on TikTok, this could secure the data of millions of users, and offer scalability solutions. Also, privacy breaches would be prevented with blockchain.

Checkpoint Research had published a list of things at the beginning of the year that detailed the issues that needed to be fixed on TikTok’s part. The vulnerabilities included hacking of TikTok user accounts and manipulating content; deleting videos; uploading unauthorized videos; making private ‘hidden’ videos public, and revealing personal information saved on the account such as private email addresses.

Currently, regulatory approval is awaited from the Trump administration for the Oracle-ByteDance deal, and Congress is expected to reach a conclusion sometime this week.

What Does Oracle's TikTok Deal Mean for the US? ByteDance Confident President Trump Will Approve Deal

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is confident that its deal with Oracle tech giant for TikTok’s US operations will be approved by both Chinese and American regulators.

Oracle secures TikTok

The deal for TikTok US operations was confirmed by Oracle this week and in order for the video-sharing app to remain active in the United States, it still needs to pass approval from the Trump administration. A set decision is rumored to be rolled out by the end of the week.

TikTok, previously shunned by US President Trump who accused the video-sharing company of illegitimate data collection and security breaches that harmed American users, appears to now have found a way to remain operational in the US. Previously under Microsoft’s bucket list for things to buy, it has been swept up by Oracle tech company.

ByteDance refuses to sell its TikTok algorithms

The recent development is that Walmart may also have a stake in the tech company, along with other American investors. However, the proposal dictates that most of TikTok’s shares will still be owned by parent company ByteDance.

Furthermore, it has been disclosed that ByteDance is unwilling to sell the prized algorithms behind the video content sharing app and cede ownership of them to Oracle tech company. After all, the social media app gained so much popularity worldwide that it has grown to be a direct challenger of other tech giants, such as Facebook and Google.

So what does acquiring TikTok shares mean for Oracle?

Under the new partnership, Oracle’s ruling power will extend to software review and monitoring of TikTok US services. It will be able to analyze the source code behind TikTok’s digital network. However, as shared by Bloomberg, ByteDance will still hold the proprietary rights of TikTok, despite American investors owning partial TikTok equities.

The green light has yet to be given by the Trump administration. Previously, President Trump had said that the app was a national security threat and a means that the Chinese government used to spy on the US. Trump had vehemently stipulated on many counts that he wanted TikTok banned from the US and that he did not want the platform’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance to retain majority control. Addressing the issue, US Secretary of the Treasury Department, Steven Mnuchin had said on behalf of the US government:

“I will just say that we’ll need to make sure that the code is secure, Americans’ data is secure, that the phones are secure and we’ll be looking to have discussions with Oracle over the next few days with our technical teams.”

China likely to okay the deal, under one condition

ByteDance and Oracle are currently awaiting approval from Chinese and US regulators. ByteDance is confident that China will approve the deal. An inside source that is familiar with the talks had disclosed that Beijing “is likely to greenlight the deal as long as it doesn’t involve the transfer of the artificial intelligence algorithms that drive Tiktok’s service.

Furthermore, they added that that needs to remain true even if ByteDance parent company were to cede majority control of TikTok over to American investors.

How can Oracle and ByteDance gain Trump’s approval?

As for Donald Trump, it appears that the US President will only be appeased if his fears of Chinese spyware were attenuated. On top of it, as mentioned by Bloomberg, the United States president will likely want US companies to retain majority control of TikTok, instead of ByteDance.

In order to provide security and dispel data breaching threats, blockchain technology could be an interesting alternative for TikTok to explore. It has been disclosed that ByteDance had strongly invested in blockchain technology, along with other Chinese companies in the past.

TikTok can benefit from blockchain technology

Blockchain technology may be a viable solution for TikTok to adopt so that the protection and security of the personal information of millions of influencers and content creators leveraging the app are ensured. Furthermore, the adoption of a decentralized ledger technology by TikTok can be beneficial to entertainers who are paid for the videos and content they upload onto social media.

Currently, the Oracle-ByteDance deal is awaiting the Trump administration’s seal of approval, as well as the okay from Chinese regulators. A decision is to be made by the end of this week.

TikTok and WeChat Get Banned From United States App Stores

President Donald Trump’s administration will ban social music video sensation TikTok from the United States app stores, making it unavailable for download.

The Trump Administration’s ban of TikTok which was made known by the US Department of Commerce is also accompanied by the ban of WeChat, another Chinese-owned social app that is operational in the US.

The ban of TikTok for the US app stores was forewarned back in August when President Trump signed an Executive Order prompting the China-based entity to sell its North American operations which covers its presence in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

As Blockchain.news reported at the time, President Trump and government officials expressed serious concerns that TikTok is being used by the Chinese government to collect the personal data of the 80 million Americans who make use of the app.

While the claims have been bluntly refuted by ByteDance officials, the government has been unswerving in its bid to get rid of the app.

“Today’s actions prove once again that President Trump will do everything in his power to guarantee our national security and protect Americans from the threats of the Chinese Communist Party,” said U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. “At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations.”

According to the department of commerce, the similarity in the threats posed by TikTok and WeChat can be seen in their activities as both collects swaths of data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories which can easily be accessed by the intelligence services of the Chinese Communist Party.

What The Ban Entails

With the ban of TikTok and WeChat, any service to distribute or maintain the WeChat or TikTok mobile applications, constituent code, or application updates through an online mobile application store in the U.S becomes banned.

In addition, the department of commerce reiterated that as of September 20, 2020, for WeChat and as of November 12, 2020, for TikTok, transactions involving content delivery network services enabling the functioning of the two apps in the US, as well as hosting services enabling the app’s operations in the US are prohibited.

While the department identified other areas for which the app’s operations and functionalities are banned, it noted that further restrictions may be imposed at a later date.

Could this Ban Have Been Been Prevented?

In his Executive Order, President Trump gave the only condition for TikTok to continue operating in the US which is to give up 100% ownership to a US company. With the president’s nudging, renowned tech firms in the United States including Microsoft Corporation, e-commerce giant Walmart, and Oracle showed interest in purchasing the app.

With Microsoft initially tipped to be in the lead to acquire the app, a recent twist showed ByteDance picking Oracle as its chosen technology partner in the US. The details of the agreed deal involve Oracle owning a partial stake in the company as most of TikTok’s shares will still be owned by parent company ByteDance.

While the president’s stance on the deal has been made clear with the pronounced ban, Americans have till Sunday, September 20 to have the last taste of the apps short video sensations.

President Donald Trump Approves Oracle Deal, Ban Averted for TikTok but not WeChat

President Donald Trump approved the TikTok deal that Oracle and Chinese parent company ByteDance have been working on all week, steering the video-sharing platform clear from its scheduled app store ban set for September 20.

The US Department of Commerce had announced that both WeChat and TikTok would be prohibited from operating in the US through an official country-wide app store ban, starting September 20. Though TikTok US operations appear to be saved for now, WeChat’s ban is still in effect and the messaging app is currently unavailable for download in the US.

Donald Trump approves Oracle-TikTok deal

The approval of TikTok by President Trump came at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The new company that was birthed from the negotiations will be called TikTok Global and will be owned predominantly by American companies. Oracle is to take a 12.5% stake in TikTok Global, while Walmart will potentially own up to 7.5% of company shares.

On top of the fact that four of the five board chairmen will be American, TikTok Global has also agreed to invest $5 billion into creating a new educational fund, an agreement that Trump had said would satisfy his demands that the US government receive a payment from the Oracle-ByteDance deal. As shared by CNBC and Bloomberg, Trump said:

“We’re going to be setting up a very large fund for the education of American youth and that’ll be great. That’s the contribution I’ve been asking for.”

Oracle and Walmart to have stakes in TikTok

According to a source familiar with the talks, ByteDance is looking for a total of $60 billion for the video content app. For the deal to go through, Oracle and Walmart are to pay a combined $12 billion to acquire their shares in TikTok Global. Discussions for the asking price are still being worked out at the time of writing.

Although TikTok’s parent company ByteDance seemed extremely confident that Chinese regulators would pass the proposal and that it will still have the upper hand, with it retaining the majority of the app’s assets and having control over the algorithms, President Trump appeared to think otherwise. He said:

“It will have nothing to do with China, it’ll be totally secure, that’ll be part of the deal. All of the control is Walmart and Oracle, two great American companies.”

Speaking about the deal for TikTok, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that the app’s China-based parent company ByteDance will have “no decision-making authority, no ability to peer into” the US company’s activities, and will just act as a “passive shareholder,” as shared by Bloomberg.

During his rally, President Trump spoke about the deal for Oracle to acquire US operations of TikTok and said: “I approve the deal in concept. If they get it done, that’s great. If they don’t, that’s OK too.” Adding on to the president’s public announcement, TikTok also released an official statement, stipulating Trump’s wishes:

“We are pleased that the proposal by TikTok, Oracle, and Walmart will resolve the security concerns of the US administration and settle questions around TikTok’s future in the US.”

The new company birthed from Oracle and ByteDance’s agreement will host an initial public offering in which future investors would be able to take up as much as a 20% stake in the company. Walmart, Oracle, and TikTok are still currently working on perfecting their partnership agreements.

What is Oracle’s role in TikTok Global?

Oracle’s role in TikTok Global will be to host all US data and to secure the computer systems. The data from TikTok will be run through Oracle’s cloud servers and this will enable security threats to be dealt with systematically, securing American users’ data and preventing foreign governments from spying on TikTok’s US operations. Speaking about the tech giant’s role in the TikTok deal, CEO of Oracle Safra Catz said:

“Oracle will quickly deploy, rapidly scale, and operate TikTok systems in the Oracle Cloud. We are a 100% confident in our ability to deliver a highly secure environment to TikTok and ensure data privacy to TikTok’s American users.”

Trump sees China as a threat to national security

Trump’s seal of approval for the Oracle-TikTok deal comes at a crucial time, with the presidential elections set for November 3 and the current president trailing behind his counter rival Joe Biden in votes. The President of the United States has used his stance regarding China as a winning point for his campaign.

Trump has alleged that China had been illicitly deploying spyware directed at the US, through applications such as Tiktok and WeChat. Over the weekend, the US Commerce of Department had decreed that as of September 20 for WeChat and November 12 for TikTok, the Chinese-based applications will be prohibited on American soil. “Any provision of content delivering network services enabling the functioning of the mobile application in the US is prohibited,” the statement read.

WeChat downloads prohibited starting Sunday

While TikTok’s ban seems to have been temporarily lifted with the Trump administration’s approval, WeChat’s prohibition appears to be ongoing. Accusations directed towards WeChat are similar to that of TikTok. The Chinese-based messaging and multi-purpose platform has been accused of collecting data form users that involve their network activity, location data, browsing history and more.

The US is not the only country that has moved to ban TikTok and WeChat operations. India has already banned both China-based social media applications, referencing that it poses national security concerns.

China Unlikely to Approve Oracle and Walmart’s TikTok Deal – Blockchain and Bitcoin Implications

China appears to be on edge regarding Oracle and Walmart’s deal with parent company ByteDance for TikTok’s US operations, calling it an “unfair” deal.

China is outraged by US’ TikTok demands

In addition, it appears that there are divided beliefs regarding what the TikTok deal entailed. While President Trump had said that the Oracle deal for TikTok “will have nothing to do with China” and that “all of the control is Walmart and Oracle, two great American companies,” the remarks appeared to have struck a sensitive chord among Chinese regulators.

The editor-in-chief for the Global Times, which operates as a tabloid for the official newspaper of China’s Communist Party, publicly said:

“Stop extorting. You think TikTok is a company from a small country? There’s no way the Chinese government will accept your demand. You can ruin Tiktok’s US business if US users do not object, but you can’t rob it and turn it into a US baby.”

The editor-in-chief added that it was “hard to believe that Beijing will approve such an agreement.”

Trump thinks TikTok is a breach of privacy

US regulators have recently declared that TikTok would transform into a new US-owned entity, dubbed TikTok Global. Four of the five board members would also be American, and that seemed to satisfy President Trump’s previous resistance towards the video-sharing app.

The United States president had declared on numerous occasions that the social app popularized by millennials posed a threat to national security, as it had been reported through a Wall Street analysis to have been tracking online user activity through questionable methods and without permission.

Why China would never green light the deal

According to Reuters, Beijing had opposed the forced sale of TikTok by ByteDance, stating that it would prefer to see the multibillion-dollar media app shut down in the United States, rather than to see it operated by predominantly American companies.

Speaking about the fact that Beijing would never okay the deal, the official news outlet for China’s leading Communist Party, Global Times, wrote:

“If the reorganization of TikTok under U.S. manipulation becomes a model, it means once any successful Chinese company expands its business to the U.S. and becomes competitive, it will be targeted by the U.S. and turned into a U.S.-controlled company via trickery and coercion, which eventually serves only U.S. interests.”

Furthermore, it stipulated that the underlying algorithm behind TikTok will never be shared with Oracle, despite the American tech company’s future stake in the media app.

Beijing would definitely keep the algorithm for its own purposes, as TikTok is alleged to share the same source code as Douyin, which is a China-based video sharing platform similar to TikTok. The latter, though deemed a global hit, is not available for download in China.

Blockchain and Bitcoin implications

TikTok currently boasts of approximately 100 million monthly active users in the US and is downloaded around 2 billion times globally.

If TikTok’s US deal is rejected by China, Bitcoin(BTC) and blockchain may potentially benefit.

Should ByteDance’s business agreement with Oracle be dismissed, this would mean that the US may lose TikTok operations. This would give way to other social media platforms, such as Voice, to surge in popularity among the former American TikTok users, who will be looking into other platforms for entertainment.

Voice, which is birthed from the high-performance blockchain platform Block.one, may greatly benefit from the ban as it can potentially scoop up the 100 million monthly users. As it is blockchain-based, this may also address the privacy concerns posed by Donald Trump and his administration.

Subsequently, this may lead to a spotlight on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, as they run on blockchain ecosystems.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading north of $10,400, after a surge past the $11K mark over the weekend. Bitcoin whales remain bullish on Bitcoin and are expecting it to surge, as it seems to be “the only long-time protection against inflation,” according to Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss.