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WASHINGTON (AP) – US President Donald Trump raised questions Wednesday about China’s ByteDance plans to maintain a majority stake in US operations of the popular social media platform TikTok after six Republican lawmakers urged it. to reject the proposal.
Trump said he would be informed on Thursday of a proposal calling for Oracle Corp to become a “trusted technology provider” for TikTok’s operations in the United States, but he was not in favor of the idea of the Chinese firm maintaining the control.
Sen. Marco Rubio and five other Republican senators on Wednesday urged the administration to reject the deal while maintaining ties with Chinese owner ByteDance, and suggested the president might block the proposal.
Trump had previously threatened to ban the app unless its US operations were sold to a US company and the US government received a share of the proceeds.
“Conceptually, I can tell you that I don’t like that,” Trump said at a press conference when asked about an informed proposal to give Oracle only a minority stake. “I’m not prepared to approve anything. They will inform me tomorrow morning and I will let you know.”
Rubio, the first senator to ask the administration to investigate TikTok over censorship concerns, cited “serious doubts” about Oracle’s role, the technology it would provide to ByteDance, and the future of the app’s algorithm in a letter to Trump. dated Wednesday.
“We continue to oppose any agreement that allows controlled or China-based entities to retain, control or modify the code or algorithms that operate any US-based version of TikTok,” he wrote.
“We are encouraged that this agreement still requires government approval, and if reports indicating that this proposed agreement will have ties to ByteDance or other entities controlled by China, we strongly urge the administration to reject such a proposal on national security grounds,” added.
Late Wednesday, Senator Ted Cruz sent a separate letter to Trump arguing that the Oracle ByteDance deal “did not meet the intent of the president’s executive orders” and “raises serious national security concerns.”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany previously told reporters that a decision would be made “in no time.” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said security and the property issue were of the utmost importance.
Rubio’s letter, also signed by Senators Thom Tillis, Rick Scott, John Cornyn, Roger Wicker and Dan Sullivan, is part of a growing chorus of lawmakers raising questions about the deal.
On Monday, Republican Senator Josh Hawley sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who heads a national security panel reviewing the proposal, calling for the deal to be overturned, if it does not allow for the “total emancipation of TikTok software from the possible Chinese “. Control of the Communist Party “.
US national security officials fear that ByteDance may provide US user data to the Chinese government. But Trump may not want to alienate 100 million American TikTok users this close to the November 3 election.
Trump has also said he’s a fan of Oracle co-founder and president Larry Ellison, one of the few tech executives to openly support him.
Meanwhile, China has updated its export control rules in order to have a say on the transfer of technology, such as TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, to a foreign buyer. Chinese officials have said that ByteDance should not be coerced by the United States into a deal.
Oracle announced Monday that it was part of a proposal submitted by ByteDance to the US Treasury Department to act as a “trusted technology provider” for ByteDance, without providing further details on the terms of the deal.
