WASHINGTON – A US plan to sell TikTok’s US operations to a group, including Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc., has been suspended indefinitely, people familiar with the situation have said, as President Biden undertakes a broad overview of his predecessor’s efforts to address potential. security risks of Chinese technology companies.
The TikTok agreement – led by then-President Donald Trump – has disappeared since last fall amid successful legal challenges for the US government’s attempt by TikTok’s owner, China, ByteDance Ltd.
The people said talks had taken place between representatives of ByteDance and US national security officials. The discussions focused on data security and ways to prevent the Chinese government from accessing the information that TikTok collects about US users.
However, a decisive question on the resolution of the issues surrounding TikTok is not expected, as the Biden government determines its own response to the potential security risk of data collection from Chinese technology companies.
“We plan to develop a comprehensive approach to securing U.S. data that addresses the full range of threats we face,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne. “This includes the risk that Chinese programs and other software offer in the U.S. In the coming months, we expect to review specific cases in the light of a comprehensive understanding of the risks we face.”