Virtual Event: Threat Detection and Incident Response Summit - Watch Sessions
Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Compliance

Trump Administration Says Still Searching for TikTok Resolution

President Donald Trump’s administration said Wednesday it was still working to resolve its security concerns over Chinese-owned app TikTok after the firm sought to delay a deadline to sell its US operations.

President Donald Trump’s administration said Wednesday it was still working to resolve its security concerns over Chinese-owned app TikTok after the firm sought to delay a deadline to sell its US operations.

Chinese company ByteDance has until Thursday to restructure ownership of the app in the United States to meet national security concerns, but it filed a petition in a Washington court this week asking for a delay.

The company said in a Tuesday statement that it had asked the government for a 30-day extension because of “continual new requests and no clarity on whether our proposed solutions would be accepted,” but it had not been granted.

On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department said in a statement it “remains focused on reaching a resolution of the national security risks arising from ByteDance’s acquisition of Musical.ly.”

ByteDance had established TikTok in the United States three years ago by buying Musical.ly — a lip-syncing video app that was already present in the country — and merging the two platforms together.

The Treasury department disputed the firm’s allegations of a lack of clarity from the government, saying “we have been clear with ByteDance regarding the steps necessary” to reach a resolution.

The Trump administration has been seeking to ban the app in the US, citing the risk of it handing over American user data to Beijing.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

The company flatly denies the allegations.

Trump signed a set of orders against the video platform this summer.

One required ByteDance to sell its US TikTok operations within 90 days, citing national security concerns.

The company also faced an order that would effectively ban the app from the country by the same date.

But on October 30, a Pennsylvania judge issued an injunction temporarily blocking the order aimed at banning it.

The order would have knocked the Chinese-owned video-sharing app offline by cutting it off from US businesses providing website hosting, data storage and other fundamentals needed to operate.

The Trump administration has appealed the ruling.

ByteDance and TikTok have proposed creating a new company with IT firm Oracle as a technology partner and retail giant Walmart as a business partner.

The plan seemed to convince the administration, but the platform is still awaiting a green light.

TikTok has 100 million users in the United States.

Related: TikTok Launches Public Bug Bounty Program

Related: TikTok, WeChat Bans Not Crucial to US Security: Experts

Written By

AFP 2023

Click to comment

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

SecurityWeek’s Threat Detection and Incident Response Summit brings together security practitioners from around the world to share war stories on breaches, APT attacks and threat intelligence.

Register

Securityweek’s CISO Forum will address issues and challenges that are top of mind for today’s security leaders and what the future looks like as chief defenders of the enterprise.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Application Security

Cycode, a startup that provides solutions for protecting software source code, emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday with $4.6 million in seed funding.

CISO Strategy

SecurityWeek spoke with more than 300 cybersecurity experts to see what is bubbling beneath the surface, and examine how those evolving threats will present...

Management & Strategy

SecurityWeek examines how a layoff-induced influx of experienced professionals into the job seeker market is affecting or might affect, the skills gap and recruitment...

Risk Management

The supply chain threat is directly linked to attack surface management, but the supply chain must be known and understood before it can be...

CISO Conversations

In this issue of CISO Conversations we talk to two CISOs about solving the CISO/CIO conflict by combining the roles under one person.

CISO Strategy

Security professionals understand the need for resilience in their company’s security posture, but often fail to build their own psychological resilience to stress.

Mobile & Wireless

Infonetics Research has shared excerpts from its Mobile Device Security Client Software market size and forecasts report, which tracks enterprise and consumer security client...

Management & Strategy

Industry professionals comment on the recent disruption of the Hive ransomware operation and its hacking by law enforcement.