Sources tell FOX Business’ Charlie Gasparino that Microsoft has discussed bringing in potential partners for its TikTok bid as it continues.
President Trump has signaled that he would increase pressure on Chinese-owned companies, such as e-commerce giant Alibaba, following his latest move against TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.
At a news conference in Bedminster, NJ, on Saturday, Trump was asked if he would consider banning other Chinese-owned companies, such as Alibaba.
“Well, we’re looking at other things, yes,” Trump said without going into detail, Reuters reported.
THE FASHIONED COMPANY OF TIKTOK, BYTEDANCE, MOVES IN HONG KONG MARKET
The question came after Trump gave ByteDance 90 days on Friday to disinvest the U.S. operations of its TikTok app. The executive order cited “credible evidence” that suggests ByteDance “may take action that threatens to restrict U.S. national security.”
ByteDance was also instructed to delete “all data received or received” from TikTok users in the US
Last week, Trump ordered floating but vague ties ordered to deal with the Chinese owners of TikTok and the messaging app WeChat, saying they are a threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy and the economy. It remains unclear what the TikTok orders mean for the app’s 100 million American users, many of them teenagers as young adults who use it to post and watch short-form videos.
Microsoft is in talks to buy TikTok parts.
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As for Alibaba, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a news conference in Washington earlier this month that the company should ensure that Americans’ personal information could not be obtained through Chinese cloud software.
“We protect the most sensitive personal information of Americans and the most valuable intellectual property of our companies – including COVID fax research – from access to cloud-based systems managed by companies such as Alibaba, Baidu, China Mobile, China Telecom, and Tencent,” said Pompeo. at the time.
“The State Department will work closely with Trade and other agencies to limit the ability of Chinese cloud service providers to collect, store and process large amounts of data and sensitive information here in the United States.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
