US President Donald Trump has announced a contract with China to allow Tiktok’s platform to continue operating in the US.
Trump said he would review details of the agreement to avoid a ban on popular US video sharing apps to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
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“We have a very large group of companies that want to buy it, and the kids want it badly,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.
“I called my parents. They don’t want it for themselves, they want it for their kids. They say if I don’t get it done, they have big problems with their kids. And I think it’s great.
Trump signed the executive order on Tuesday, extending the deadline until December 16th when Bytedance, the Chinese owner of Tiktok, will sell from the platform or face a promise ban.
Trump, who praised Tiktok for helping to win young voters in the November presidential election, did not provide specific details about the nature of the deal.
The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Tiktok’s Chinese ownership would fall to less than 20% based on the proposed agreement.
The Chinese People’s Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper, welcomed the deal as an example of “cooperation for mutual benefit.”
“China’s commitment to protecting China’s national interests and the legitimate rights of Chinese companies remains unshakable,” the newspaper said in the commentary.
“It will legitimately deal with issues such as technology export approvals and intellectual property licensing rights related to Tiktok,” the newspaper added.
Yang Lian, an economics professor at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, said the reported details of the transaction raised questions about what China would get in return for the sale.
“After all, Trump is interested in continuing to run Tiktok for his personal political interests,” Yang told Al Jazeera.
“Trump’s business customers are also interested in keeping Tiktok alive, even if they don’t have the majority control of this lucrative company,” she said.
“It’s surprising that China has agreed to such a transaction without (many) concessions from the US.”
The future of Tiktok, which claims more than 170 million users in the US, is well balanced as Washington lawmakers passed laws last year to sell the platform from Chinese ownership.
Democrats and Republicans alike have overwhelmingly supported the ban amid concerns that Beijing would use the platform to spy on Americans and spread Chinese Communist Party propaganda.
Trump himself made a U-turn after attempting to ban Tiktok in his first term as president and pledged to “save” the platform during his reelection campaign.
Critics of the ban argue that it violates the US’s right to free speech and fails to address privacy concerns generally surrounding social media platforms.
“We didn’t think that Tiktok should be shut down over speculation that China might gather or try to influence Americans,” Ryan Calo, co-director of the University of Washington Tech Policy Lab, told Al Jazeera.
“So, from that point of view, attacking the contract to keep Tiktok in the US is a victory,” Karo said.
But Caro said the creation of a “own timetable” for the Trump administration to reach the deal downplayed the process outlined in the law passed by Congress.
“This is a blow to the rule of law, among many people,” he said.
Anupam Chander, a law and technology expert at Georgetown Law, said Trump’s announcement raised questions about the potential political impact on Tiktok’s content.
“Many Americans are worried that changes in CBS ownership may change the politics of the channel,” Chander said, referring to major US broadcasters.
“For U.S. Tiktok users, I think it’s fair to wonder whether Tiktok’s content will change and reflect the views of new Tiktok owners who may have a friendly relationship with the current administration.”
