Trump takes another swing at ByteDance with executive order on acquisition of Musical.ly
Aug 15, 2020
Washington [US], Aug 15 : US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time) took another swing at China-based ByteDance by issuing an executive order on latter's recent acquisition of karaoke video app Musical.ly and then merging it with TikTok.
According to the order, "The transaction resulting in the acquisition by ByteDance of Musical. ly, to the extent that Musical. ly or any of its assets is used in furtherance or support of, or relating to, Musical. ly's activities in interstate commerce in the United States ("Musical. ly in the United States"), is hereby prohibited, and ownership by ByteDance of any interest in Musical. ly in the United States, whether effected directly or indirectly through ByteDance, or through ByteDance's subsidiaries, affiliates, or Chinese shareholders, is also prohibited."
He further said that the ByteDance has to divest all interests and rights within 90 days.
"Among the factors Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) may consider in reviewing the proposed sale or transfer are whether the buyer or transferee: is a U.S. citizen or is owned by U.S. citizens; has or has had a direct or indirect contractual, financial, familial, employment, or other close and continuous relationship with ByteDance, or its officers, employees, or shareholders; and can demonstrate a willingness and ability to support compliance with this order," Trump said.
"CFIUS may consider whether the proposed sale or transfer would threaten to impair the national security of the United States or undermine the purpose of this order and whether the sale effectuates, to CFIUS's satisfaction and in its discretion, a complete divestment of all tangible or intangible assets or property, wherever located, used to enable or support the operation of the TikTok application in the United States," he added.
The new order comes a week after an earlier executive order from Trump. The previous order could have forced US-based app stores to stop distributing the TikTok app if its parent ByteDance did not reach a deal to divest from it in 45 days.
The new order buys time for Byte Dance to sort out a potential deal for TikTok.
Under the latest order, ByteDance is expected to destroy all its copies of TikTok data attached to US users.
