TikTok's fate gradually revealed after US-China phone call

US President Donald Trump said he had just spoken by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the two sides had made progress in negotiations related to the social media platform TikTok.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on September 19, Mr. Trump said Mr. Xi Jinping had agreed to the TikTok deal, which was progressing smoothly.

Mr Trump added that the two leaders would meet in person on the sidelines of an international economic event, expected to be in South Korea in late October, to discuss the fate of TikTok, bilateral trade relations and other issues.

Last week, the US and China reached a framework agreement that would allow the Chinese video -sharing platform to continue operating in the US.

The US Congress has ordered the app to be shut down for American users if TikTok's owner, ByteDance - a large Chinese technology corporation - does not transfer part of TikTok's assets to Americans.

So far, China has not made any official statement about a TikTok deal with the US government. In a statement, China made clear its government's stance of respecting the autonomy of businesses and called on the US to treat Chinese companies fairly.

Mr. Trump's statement also said that the United States will cooperate with China on economy and trade, and support the working groups of the two sides to reach a suitable agreement on TikTok through consultation.

However, there are still many key issues regarding TikTok's fate in the US, such as the specific ownership ratio of the US side, how China will maintain control over the application's internal operating mechanism, what kind of concessions Mr. Trump will ask the parties involved, or whether the US Congress will approve the deal.

Asked whether the US or China would control TikTok’s algorithm, Mr. Trump said “it’s under discussion” and asserted “we’ll have very strong control.” Asked whether the US government would control a seat on the board, Mr. Trump said it would be announced soon.

Mr. Trump also mentioned the possibility that the U.S. government could levy a fee for brokering a deal to keep TikTok operating in the U.S., but added that the provision “has not yet been fully negotiated.” The Wall Street Journal reported that it would be a multi-billion-dollar fee.

Reuters reported that the deal requires ByteDance to transfer ownership of TikTok to its US partners, but the platform will still use the old algorithm. Therefore, the deal does not alleviate US lawmakers' concerns about the risk of national information security.

The US and Chinese leaders have agreed to have further talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum starting on October 31 in Gyeongju, South Korea.

Mr. Trump also said he will visit China early next year and Mr. Xi Jinping will come to the US at a later date./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/so-phan-tiktok-dan-he-lo-sau-cuoc-dien-dam-my-trung-post1062932.vnp