Trump says he will ban Chinese-owned Tik Tok in US

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would ban the Chinese-owned Tik Tok application in the US.

Speaking to the reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump added that his administration has finalized a national security review of the video-sharing app.

“As far as TikTok is concerned we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump said adding that he could use his executive powers to formalize the decision.

“Well, I have that authority. I can do it with an executive order or that,” Trump said.

Meanwhile, TikTok’s US manager Vanessa Pappas said in a video statement Saturday, “we are not planning on going anywhere.” referring to Trump’s threat of a ban.

“We’ve hired nearly 1,000 people to our US team this year alone, and are proud to be hiring another 10,000 employees into great paying jobs across the US. Our $1 billion creator fund supports US creators who are building livelihoods from our platform,” the spokesperson for the company said in a statement.

“TikTok US user data is stored in the US, with strict controls on employee access. TikTok’s biggest investors come from the US. We are committed to protecting our users’ privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform,” read the statement.

The Financial Times reported that Trump’s comments came after it emerged that Microsoft, the US technology company, was in talks to purchase TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, according to people familiar with the matter. A group of US investors in ByteDance, including Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic, has also discussed a deal to buy TikTok, the Financial Times reported last week so that its US operations could be separated from the Chinese parent company.