Tick..tick..US gives 45 days to stop TikTok

President Donald Trump issued an executive order which will ban any US companies or citizens from making transactions with ByteDance, the parent company of the video-sharing social networking service, TikTok in 45 days. WeChat is also included, terming both the Chinese apps a threat to the country’s national security and economy.

The order will likely mean the viral video service could no longer receive advertising from American companies and the app could be removed from Apple and Google’s app stores. This move puts pressure on the Chinese- owned app to sell its US assets to an American company.

The ban marks a significant escalation by Trump in his confrontation with Beijing as the US seeks to curb China’s power in global technology. With the US election less than 90 days away, Trump is making his challenge of China a central theme of his campaign, where he faces Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, who has locked horns with China on a range of issues including trade and coronavirus pandemic, has set a deadline of mid-september for Tik Tok to be acquired by a US firm or be banned in the United States.

Microsoft has expanded its talks on TikTok to a potential deal that would include buying the global operations of the fast-growing video app.

Whether Microsoft will come to the rescue of the sinking Tik Tok, one has to wait and see.