Trump says he will ban TikTok in the US
bbc.co.uk
bbc.co.uk
From article: „US security officials have expressed concern that the app, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, could be used to collect the personal data of Americans.„
/s Fun days ahead. s/
The president can (effectively) order CFIUS (the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) to review ownership on national security grounds, and if they determine that it constitutes a security risk CFIUS can order that it be divested.
This happened with Grindr last year[1] and the sale was closed in March.
1. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-grindr-m-a-exclusive/excl...
Availability of an app for download is something quite different.
TikTok is also incorporated in the United States (TikTok Inc.) as a subsidiary of ByteDance. Their original acquisition of Musical.ly was reviewed by CFIUS last year, but I don't know the result (or if this is a continuation of the same review.)
... still, whatever happens with the US subsidiary should not, IIUC, affect whether or not the app can be downloaded.
Wow, sounds serious! I wonder if any other piece of software in the world has this problem. Perhaps Trump should ban all of those too. Better safe than sorry! :-(