TikTok has soared in popularity worldwide, but its ownership by Chinese technology giant ByteDance -- and alleged subservience to Beijing's ruling Communist Party -- has fuelled national security concerns in Western capitals.
On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that would force TikTok to divest from its parent company or face a nationwide ban.
The bill is yet to pass the Senate, where it is expected to face a tougher test in order to become law.
The White House has said President Joe Biden would sign the bill -- known officially as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act -- if it reaches his desk.
Mnuchin on Thursday said he is putting together a team of investors to buy TikTok from its Chinese owners, once the bill passes.
"I think the legislation should pass and I think (TikTok) should be sold," Mnuchin, an investment banker who led the Treasury Department throughout Trump's term in office, told CNBC.
Mnuchin said TikTok was "a great business and I'm going to put together a group to buy" the embattled app.
"This should be owned by US businesses. There's no way that the Chinese would ever let a US company own something like this in China," he said.
China has blocked Western online platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) for years on its heavily-censored internet.
TikTok didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mnuchin gave no further details on his plan, nor the investors he was trying to assemble.
ByteDance, which is privately run, has major US shareholders including investment giants Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and General Atlantic as well as Silicon Valley stalwart Sequoia Capital.
Hedge funder Jeff Yass is also a major investor in ByteDance and is reported by US media as being among those lobbying against the bill.
In a turnaround from his earlier stance, Trump this week said he is against the bill, but denied accusations that he changed his tune because Yass is donating to his campaign.
Any divestment of TikTok, either as a whole or just its US operations, would be a huge challenge, notably in the courts, and a transaction that only the world's richest companies could afford.
Any attempt by a US tech giant to buy TikTok, with its 170 million US users, would almost certainly face intense antitrust scrutiny.
- 'Bandit logic' -
Beijing sharply criticized the bill giving no indication that it would allow a sale of TikTok from ByteDance.
"The US should truly respect the principles of a market economy and fair competition (and) stop unjustly suppressing foreign companies," Beijing's commerce ministry spokesperson He Yadong said at a press conference.
"China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests," he said, adding a call for Washington to "provide an open, fair, just, and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies to invest and operate in the US."
At a separate press briefing, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the vote "runs contrary to the principles of fair competition and international economic and trade rules".
"If so-called reasons of national security can be used to arbitrarily suppress excellent companies from other countries, then there is no fairness and justice at all," Wang said.
"When someone sees a good thing another person has and tries to take it for themselves, this is entirely the logic of a bandit."
TikTok has consistently denied that it is under the control of China's Communist Party.
Its CEO Shou Zi Chew has urged users to speak out against the vote, and several TikTok creators interviewed by AFP voiced opposition to the proposed ban.
China blasts US TikTok vote as buyout plan emerges
Beijing (AFP) Mar 14, 2024 -
China blasted Washington's "bandit" mentality Thursday after the US House passed a bill that would ban TikTok unless it splits from its Chinese owner, as former Trump treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said he is preparing a buyout plan.
The short-video app has soared in popularity worldwide but its ownership by Chinese technology giant ByteDance -- and alleged subservience to Beijing's ruling Communist Party -- has fuelled concern in Western capitals.
On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that would force TikTok to divest from its parent company or face a nationwide ban.
The bill is yet to pass the Senate, where it is expected to face a tougher test in order to become law.
"The US should truly respect the principles of a market economy and fair competition (and) stop unjustly suppressing foreign companies," Beijing's commerce ministry spokesperson He Yadong said at a press conference.
Washington should also "provide an open, fair, just, and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies to invest and operate in the US", He added.
"China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests," he said.
- 'Should be sold' -
At a separate press briefing, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the vote "runs contrary to the principles of fair competition and international economic and trade rules".
"If so-called reasons of national security can be used to arbitrarily suppress excellent companies from other countries, then there is no fairness and justice at all," Wang said.
"When someone sees a good thing another person has and tries to take it for themselves, this is entirely the logic of a bandit."
Mnuchin on Thursday said he is putting together a team of investors to buy TikTok from its Chinese owners, once the bill passed.
"I think the legislation should pass and I think (TikTok) should be sold," Mnuchin told CNBC.
Mnuchin, who served for four years as former president Donald Trump's treasury secretary, said that TikTok was "a great business and I'm going to put together a group to buy" the embattled app.
"This should be owned by US businesses. There's no way that the Chinese would ever let a US company own something like this in China," Mnuchin said.
China has blocked Western online platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) for years on its heavily-censored internet.
US lawmakers voted 352 in favour of the proposed law and 65 against, striking a rare note of unity in politically divided Washington.
The White House has said President Joe Biden will sign the bill -- known officially as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act -- into law if it reaches his desk.
But it faces a tricky path through the more cautious Senate, where some are wary of taking dramatic measures against an app with 170 million US users.
TikTok has consistently denied that it is under the control of China's Communist Party.
Its CEO Shou Zi Chew has urged users to speak out against the vote, and several TikTok creators interviewed by AFP voiced opposition to the proposed ban.
The app is at the centre of long-running tensions between China and the United States, which have butted heads in recent years over technology, trade and human rights issues.
Washington has cited national security concerns to limit the activities of some Chinese companies in the United States, as well as the export of certain technologies to China that it deems sensitive.
Italy fines TikTok 10 mn euros for failing to protect minors
Rome (AFP) Mar 14, 2024 -
Italy's competition authority on Thursday fined TikTok 10 million euros (nearly $11 million), saying the hugely popular video app had failed to sufficiently protect minors.
"The company has failed to implement appropriate mechanisms to monitor content published on the platform, particularly those that may threaten the safety of minors and vulnerable individuals," the AGCM watchdog said in a statement.
"Moreover, this content is systematically re-proposed to users as a result of their algorithmic profiling, stimulating an ever-increasing use of the social network."
The fine has been imposed on three units of China's Bytedance group, namely Ireland's TikTok Technology, TikTok Information Technologies UK and TikTok Italy.
The watchdog said TikTok had not fully complied with guidelines it had advertised to reassure consumers the app was a "safe" space.
"In fact, the guidelines are applied without adequately accounting for the specific vulnerability of adolescents, characterised by peculiar cognitive mechanisms from which derive, for instance, the difficulty in distinguishing reality from fiction and the tendency to emulate group behaviour," it said.
It added that "potentially dangerous" content is promoted through TikTok's recommendation system.
It highlighted the "French scar challenge", where children pinch their cheeks violently to create bruising, a phenomenon explained by numerous tutorials on TikTok that has caused concern in the education and health sectors.
In a statement, TikTok said it disagreed with the watchdog's decision.
"There were only on average 100 daily searches in Italy for so-called 'French Scar' content before the AGCM announced its investigation last year," it said.
"We have for a long time limited the visibility of this content to the under-18s, and made it ineligible in the 'For You' feed."
The short-video app has soared in popularity worldwide, but its ownership by Chinese tech giant ByteDance -- and alleged subservience to Beijing's ruling Communist Party -- has fuelled concern in Western capitals.
On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that would force TikTok to divest from its parent company or face a nationwide ban.
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