Bytedance's bid to keep most of TikTok's operations faces hurdles

TikTok's parent company Bytedance faces hurdles as it tries to convince the white house to allow it keep the majority properties and operations of the video sharing platform in the US.

This Follows President Trump orders,last month president Trump ordered Bytedance to divest TikTok due to the concerns that the private data and information of US citizens using the app could be illegally shared with the parent company which is situated in China, and might be further used by the Chinese government for other activities.The president also threatened to ban the short video sharing platform if it has not come to terms favourable to the US before Sept 20th.

According to the Reuters, Bytedance has submitted a plan to the US officials for it to keep a majority stake of TikTok's global business and create headquarters for it in the United States.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that the proposal is being reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States(CFIUS).

A US government panel chaired by the U.S Treasury Department said,

“Conceptually I can tell you I don't like that (Bytedance keeping a majority ownership of TikTok).That has been reported, but it has not been told to me yet, if that is the case, I'm not going to be happy with that”.

CFIUS expert, Aimen Mir said,

“After CFIUS recommendation to the president and the president issued an executive order requiring divestment, though it would be clearly within the authority of the president to modify his order.

Another CFIUS expert said that it is discussing offering a minority stake in TikTok to Oracle Corp while also having the technology giant take over the management of its user data and ensuring it is ringfenced from China.

Mir said,

“For CFIUS to get comfortable with a third party having both an ownership stake and a security responsibility,they would have to have a firm basis for trusting the US business partners, conclude that the security measures would be technically effective, and be convinced that it is possible for the business to be commercially successful even while strictly adhering to security measures”.