Microsoft Likely To Acquire TikTok's US Operations As Trump Administration Mulls Crackdown On Chinese App

In a major development, Satya Nadella led global technology major Microsoft is said to be looking to acquire the Chinese short-video sharing platform TikTok's operations in the United States (US), reports Economic Times.

The development comes as President Donald Trump's administration in the US is planning to announce an executive order which can force TikTok's parent company ByteDance to divest its US ownership of the application citing national security concerns.

One of the largest Chinese tech company, ByteDance had bought US-based Musical.ly in 2017 and merged it with TikTok. This had helped the platform gain sizable userbase in the US.

However, with its growing penetration in the US and given its shady links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, the American officials have grown concerned about the potential use of the app by the CCP to gain data on US nationals.

Earlier in 2019, the US' Committee on Foreign Investment had initiated a review of the ByteDance's acquistion of the Musical.ly.