Donald Trump announced on Friday that it was postponed by an additional 75 days the deadline set for the sale of the Tiktok social network, the parent company of the social network, Bytedance, reporting “key questions” still to be resolved.
The President had already postponed the first time, 75 days at the end of January, the entry into force of a law passed in 2024 by the Congress and which requires bytedance to give in control under penalty of ban in the United States.
This text was aimed at preventing Chinese authorities from being able to get their hands on Personal Tiktok user data in the United States or being able to influence American opinion via the powerful social network algorithm. The deadline is now moved to June 19.
“Key questions must still be resolved”
The sale of the American subsidiary of Tiktok requires the green light from Bytedance but also of the Chinese authorities, which have neither one nor the other, so far validated the very idea of a sale.
“Key questions must still be resolved,” the Chinese group warned on Friday, confirming discussions but recalling that any transaction should be “approved in accordance with Chinese law”.
The tone of these communications contrasts with the insurance displayed by Donald Trump and his vice-president JD Vance, in charge of the file at the White House, who had reported several times in recent days that a final agreement would be reached before the deadline of April 5.
“A constructive spirit”
“We hope to continue, in a constructive spirit, our work with China which, from what I hear, is not delighted with reciprocal customs duties” imposed in the country by Donald Trump, wrote the head of state in a message posted on his social social network.
This new 34% tax is added, in the case of China, to the 20% already in force, which brings the total of additional rights to 54%. China retaliated and announced on Friday the implementation of a 34% tax on American products imported from April 10.
“The postponement (from the deadline) helps keep Tiktok alive and accredit the idea that customs duties have their effect” and encourage China to an inflection, commented Jeremy Goldman, analyst of the Emarketer cabinet.
“A currency of exchange”
“Trump can continue to use Tiktok as an exchange currency in his geopolitical saga with China,” he continued.
“We do not want Tiktok to disappear,” said Donald Trump, who after trying to force the transfer of the platform in 2020, has posed, since the last American presidential campaign, as a Savior of the social network with 170 million users in the United States.
“We are impatient to work with Tiktok and China to finalize this operation”, which “requires more work to ensure the signing of all the necessary agreements,” described the former property developer.
Tiktok’s split scenario of his parent company
According to several American media, discussions are underway, with the tission of Tiktok as a central scenario of his parent company. The shareholders of Bytedance would then be entrusted with actions of this new entity up to their current participation in the Chinese giant.
According to Tiktok himself, around 60% of the capital of Bytedance is in the hands of non-Chinese investors, which would amount to the video platform will no longer be controlled mainly by a Chinese company, the main requirement of the congress.
If this scenario prevailed, he would rule out any payment and also avoid entry to the capital of one or more contenders who have manifested themselves in recent months to buy Tiktok.
Amazon and Walmart interested
This list includes in particular the “Project Liberty” of the entrepreneur Frank McCourt, owner of the Olympique de Marseille, the Youtubeur Mrbeast or the Artificial Intelligence Startup (IA) Generative Perplexity AI.
In recent days, have also come forward, according to American media, Amazon and Walmart, which had presented, in 2020, a joint offer with Microsoft to buy Tiktok, a proposal that has remained a dead letter.
Some American actors, including the distance computer specialist (Cloud) Oracle, who already hosts Tiktok servers in the United States, or the Blackstone investment company, could take a minority stake, according to American media.
A stake as much financial as it is technological
But the stake is just as financial as it is technological with, at the center of the file, the famous recommendation algorithm of Tiktok, which explains the popularity of the application.
However, it is to control this program by a Chinese entity that the Congress wanted to end.
The New York Times suggested that the new entity could obtain a license from Bytedance to exploit it.
