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Oracle has proposed a partnership with TikTok, but one Senator is urging the feds to reject the offer. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley says that the proposal should be rejected because it would allow TikTok to keep its Chinese-based ownership.
“China’s repressive intelligence laws, which allow the seizure of data from Chinese companies like ByteDance if the Chinese Communist Party comes knocking, still remain in force,” Hawley wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
“And that is why any corporate shell game that leaves TikTok in the hands of ByteDance will simply perpetuate the original problem, leaving US national interests and everyday users at serious risk.”
President Donald Trump has said he will consider banning the app if it is not completely sold by the of October.
TikTok is based in Beijing. It has been downloaded over 110 million times in the United States.
The company, however, claims that its servers are based out of China and that they are committed to transparency for its users. The app is also not available within China.
“At TikTok, we take these issues incredibly seriously as well. We are committed to transparency and accountability in how we support our TikTok users in the US and around the world,” the statement from TikTok read. “TikTok does not remove content based on sensitivities related to China. We have never been asked by the Chinese government to remove any content and we would not do so if asked. Period.”
TikTok was first launched in 2017 and is available for download on iOS and Android devices. Earlier this year, TikTok hit one billion downloads globally with the app available in over 150 markets and 75 languages.
