By John D. McKinnon, Georgia Wells and Kate Davidson
WASHINGTON -- Plans to turn Chinese-owned TikTok into a U.S.
company are in a holding pattern as a federal judge considers
blocking Trump administration action that would effectively force a
sale of the video-sharing app to U.S. investors, according to
people familiar with the matter.
TikTok and the U.S. government are still pursuing a deal, but
the outcome of the legal case could determine whether TikTok is
forced to sell its U.S. operations as a part of that deal and how a
sale would be structured, according to the people familiar with the
matter.
TikTok's owner, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., was racing last
month to settle on a way to address U.S. security concerns by
giving significant ownership stakes to Oracle Corp., Walmart Inc.
and other U.S. investors, plus giving Oracle control of the app's
data.
But the dynamic shifted last month, the people said, after U.S.
District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington granted a preliminary
injunction against a Commerce Department curb on TikTok downloads
and mobile app updates that was set to take effect Sept. 27.
The judge will next consider TikTok's request for an injunction
that would prevent the U.S. government from barring U.S. companies
from providing web-hosting or content delivery services to TikTok
starting Nov. 12.
Oral arguments in the case are set for Nov. 4, one day after the
presidential election.
A win for TikTok could give it leverage to renegotiate the deal
President Trump approved in concept last month involving Oracle and
others, while a win for the U.S. government could strengthen its
hand in forcing TikTok to either shut down or sell its U.S.
operations.
"Right now the posture is to wait," said one of the people
familiar with the matter, discussing the government's position.
Details of a deal for TikTok remain under discussions with the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., a national security
panel overseen by the Treasury Department.
In response to the committee's concerns, TikTok is currently
corresponding with the U.S. Defense and Justice Departments about
measures to secure data associated with its U.S. users, according
to one of the people familiar with the matter.
TikTok isn't challenging the committee's demands for such
measures, and the committee has never demanded TikTok be sold to an
American company.
But TikTok does contend that the executive order by Mr. Trump to
effectively ban the app in the U.S. is an unconstitutional
infringement on freedom of speech, according to its court filings.
Lawyers for the U.S. must file their arguments by Friday.
U.S. treatment of TikTok could further be affected by the
outcome of the Nov. 3 presidential election. The campaign against
the video-sharing app has been led by Mr. Trump. His Democratic
challenger, former vice president Joe Biden, hasn't made clear his
position on the matter.
The Trump administration contends that TikTok, which has an
estimated 50 million daily active users in the U.S., poses a
security risk because ByteDance could be forced to share data on
American users with China's authoritarian government. TikTok has
said it would never do so and that the U.S. has failed to make the
case that the data would be shared.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sounded impatient about
wrapping up TikTok deliberations in comments on the Fox Business
Network last week, saying the administration negotiated "what we
think is a very good deal to turn this into an American
company."
Mr. Mnuchin said TikTok and Chinese parent ByteDance now "need
to comply with that" under the administration's executive
actions.
"We're going to have one of two outcomes: This will either be a
safe American company, or it will be shut down," he said.
A federal-court decision would still leave some uncertainties.
ByteDance faces regulatory hurdles in China, where the government
ministries in charge of commerce, and science and technology have
to approve any plan determining the fate of TikTok's
operations.
In August, China added data-processing technologies such as
content-recommendation algorithms to a list of restricted exports,
a move widely seen by observers as a way to wrestle some control
over TikTok deal-making.
ByteDance said at the end of September it had submitted to
commerce authorities in Beijing its plan to partner with Oracle and
Walmart and was awaiting a decision. Local officials have 30
working days to provide an answer on the submission.
Last weekend, China raised stakes further by approving a new law
that would allow the country to ban exports in the name of national
security. The law, set to go into effect Dec. 1, would give Chinese
officials added firepower in a technology contest with the U.S.
--Katy Stech Ferek and Liza Lin contributed to this article.
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com, Georgia
Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com and Kate Davidson at
kate.davidson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 22, 2020 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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