Skip to main content

TikTok's US fate reportedly rests on a brawl between two senior White House advisers

* The confused messages from the Trump administration about the fate of ByteDance-owned TikTok may stem from a disagreement between two senior White House advisers. * According to The Washington Post, trade adviser Peter Navarro pushed for an outright ban of TikTok, while Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin wanted a sale. * The pair ended up in a "shouting match" in front of President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in late July, according to the report. * President Trump has told TikTok, whose parent company is Chinese, that it must sell its US business to an American tech firm or investors, or face a ban from mid-September. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Donald Trump's top advisers reportedly can't agree on what should happen to TikTok, whose fate in the US currently hangs in the balance. According to a Washington Post report, citing anonymous witnesses, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and trade adviser Peter Navarro had a "shouting match" in front of President Trump in the Oval Office in late July over the short video app's future. Navarro reportedly pushed for a full ban on TikTok, which is owned by Chinese startup ByteDance, and accused Mnuchin of being too gentle on China. Mnuchin wanted TikTok's business to be sold to Microsoft or another US bidder — he has already held talks with Microsoft, the report said. This "knockdown" brawl may partially explain some of the confused messages from the Trump administration on TikTok over the last month. The administration signaled in July that it might ban the app. However, news emerged at the beginning of August that Microsoft might buy parts of TikTok's business, sealing the app off from its Chinese owners. On the same day, Trump said that he would ban TikTok altogether. Microsoft then said it had held talks with Trump and would continue discussions with TikTok. Trump upped the pressure again, issuing an executive order on August 7 that banned US individuals or companies from doing business with TikTok's parent firm ByteDance. The order takes effect on September 20, effectively giving ByteDance a deadline to negotiate with Microsoft or other bidders. It isn't clear that Microsoft will successfully acquire TikTok's business. Other bidders reportedly interested include existing ByteDance backer Sequoia Capital and Twitter. TikTok, meanwhile, has threatened to sue the US over the executive order, saying the Trump administration had directly interfered with negotiations between private businesses. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why YETI coolers are so expensive
https://bit.ly/3ijvUnM

Popular posts from this blog

All the coolest features of every Tesla vehicle ever made or unveiled, ranked (TSLA)

* Tesla's vehicles are and always have been crammed with great ideas. * These range from touchscreen interfaces to innovative battery designs to staggering acceleration. * I've driven or experienced every vehicle Tesla has ever sold or intends to sell in the future. * Here are all my favorite features, ranked. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. In about two decades, Tesla has done what everyone in the auto industry thought was impossible: create an all-electric brand that could sell hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Tesla could have done that in a boring or modest way, developing  the equivalent of an electric VW Beetle. Instead, Tesla made fantastically compelling cars that are fast, look amazing, and are packed with features. Here's a rundown of all my favorites, ranked from bottom to top: FOLLOW US: On Facebook for more car and transportation content! Tesla has been in business for 17 years. In that period of time, it's consisten...
Read more

Inside the fight between my small Iowa hometown and a $12 billion utility over smart meters and the radiation that some residents call 'poison'

* Many residents in Fairfield, Iowa, home to thousands of disciples of a deceased Indian guru, claim that radiation emitted by cell phones and other devices is harmful to human health.  * Those beliefs created a problem for a local utility that began deploying radiation-emitting smart meters in 2017. * Through administrative proceedings, Fairfield residents fought back against the utility's smart meter program — and, for the most part, won.  * At its core, the fight wasn't about the health effects of smart meters. It was about the freedom to exercise a set of beliefs, as unusual as they may be. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. FAIRFIELD, IOWA — I was standing outside my childhood home on an unseasonably warm spring day when I saw my neighbor approaching from across the street.  It was May, and I had been staying with my parents months after escaping New York City. In their home, more than 80 miles away from the nearest airport, the threat of a pa...
Read more

The NSA warned staff that smartphone apps can track them. Here are their recommendations to avoid tracking.

* The NSA warned members of the US military and intelligence community this week that their smartphone apps could be tracking them and put their security at risk. * In guidance issued Tuesday, the agency noted that many apps make use of WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth to collect cellphone location information, which is typically sold to advertisers or third parties. * The agency recommended specific steps for staff to reduce their data exposure, like restricting app permissions and reducing web browsing on their smartphones. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The National Security Administration warned staff that the amount of data their smartphones track could pose a national security risk in new guidance issued Tuesday. The guidance highlights a practice that's common across Silicon Valley products but rarely understood by consumers: smartphones are constantly gathering information on users' location, through a combination of apps, the smartphone's o...
Read more