Latest news with #ShouZiChew
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
TikTok urgently pitches Canada security solution to avoid shutdown
TikTok is trying to talk to Canada about security solutions that would spare the popular video app from a looming order to shut down operations in the country. So far, its pleas have fallen on deaf ears, said Steve de Eyre, director of TikTok's government affairs for Canada, in an interview. 'We are still looking to get to the table,' he said. TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance , started this month to freeze spending on cultural programmes and sponsorships following a November directive to close its Canadian unit, which cited national security concerns. TikTok would still be available on app stores for Canadians to use after the shutdown. 'Time is running out,' de Eyre said, although the company declined to share its deadline. TikTok has challenged the order in court. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew wrote to Industry Minister Melanie Joly on July 2 requesting an urgent in-person meeting within the next two weeks. According to a copy of the letter seen by Bloomberg, he wrote: 'The windup process is rapidly approaching a critical juncture where, unless you intervene, TikTok will be forced to fire all of its Canadian employees' as well as halting investment and support for creators. De Eyre confirmed the contents of the letter and said the company has not yet received an official response. The Industry Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
TikTok CEO asks to meet with industry minister over shutdown order
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sits before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP) OTTAWA — The CEO of TikTok is asking Industry Minister Mélanie Joly for an urgent meeting about the federal government's order directing the company to shut down its Canadian operations. Shou Chew wrote to Joly on July 2 asking for an in-person meeting within two weeks, according to a letter obtained by The Canadian Press. Chew argued that order was made in different circumstances, when it looked like the United States was going to ban TikTok. 'There is no upside to this outdated and counterproductive government order, which was issued under a different government and in a different era, and which doesn't reflect today's reality,' the letter says. In November, Ottawa ordered the dissolution of TikTok's Canadian business following a national security review of ByteDance Ltd., the Chinese company behind the social media platform. While TikTok has been told to wind down its Canadian operations, the app will continue to be available to Canadians. Chew argued going ahead with that November directive would make Canada an outlier among its allies, including other countries that are part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. He said the order appeared to be based on 'assumptions about TikTok's future in the United States which no longer hold true.' Canada launched its national security review in the fall of 2023 but did not disclose it until March 2024, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to ban TikTok if ByteDance did not divest its stake. But in June, U.S. President Donald Trump extended the deadline to ban TikTok in the U.S. for a third time. In the July 2 letter, Chew said that without Joly's intervention, the company would soon have to fire more than 350 employees in Canada, stop its direct investment in Canada and cut support for Canadian creators and culture. 'The wind-up process is rapidly approaching a critical juncture,' he wrote. On July 7, TikTok said it was pulling out as a sponsor of several Canadian arts institutions, including the Juno Awards and the Toronto International Film Festival. A spokesperson for Joly did not answer questions about whether the minister has responded to the letter or plans to meet with Chew. TikTok is challenging the shutdown order in Federal Court. It launched a legal challenge in December, arguing the government ordered 'measures that bear no rational connection to the national security risks it identifies.' Ottawa's national security review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with the potential to harm national security. When he was industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne said the government was taking action to address 'specific national security risks.' He didn't specify what those risks are. Privacy and safety concerns about TikTok and ByteDance have focused on Chinese national security laws that compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering. Chew said no evidence has been presented to show that TikTok is a security threat to Canada and the government has not been interested in discussing solutions. He said the government's concerns could be addressed through measures such as enhanced data security protocols and additional transparency and oversight measures. The shutdown order would leave TikTok available to its 14 million users in Canada, Chew said in the letter. But the company would 'no longer have a presence or representatives within Canada's jurisdiction,' he added. He said the company's Canadian employees have appeared at Parliamentary committees, engaged with regulators, trained Canadian law enforcement on how to submit lawful access requests and worked with Elections Canada during the federal election. 'TikTok maintaining a presence in Canada means there is a local team who is accountable to Canadian policy-makers and authorities,' he wrote. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2025. Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump says he'll extend TikTok sales deadline for third time
TikTok is once again getting a last-minute reprieve. President Trump on Tuesday said he'll likely extend the deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell off the short-form video app before it's set to go dark on Thursday, according to Reuters. Trump also told reporters on Air Force One that he believes a deal to sell TikTok will eventually materialize and that Chinese President Xi Jinping will ultimately sign off on it. This will be the third time Trump has extended the TikTok sales deadline. The app briefly went offline in January just before Trump took office, before he pushed the date to April as negotiations around a sale continued to drag on. He signed a second executive order extending the deadline again in April, but that expires Thursday. Trump initially called for a ban on TikTok during his first term in office but changed his stance during the 2024 election, saying that it serves as a bulwark against Meta's (META) social media dominance. Trump has a contentious history with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The chief executive suspended Trump from his platforms following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and Trump later threatened to jail Zuckerberg. In January, Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit Trump filed over the suspension. Trump, however, had a change of heart on the app after crediting it with drawing young voters to his reelection effort. He went on to invite the company's CEO, Shou Zi Chew, to his inauguration alongside other tech leaders, including Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai, and Zuckerberg. Congress initially passed and former President Joe Biden signed the law banning TikTok in 2024. The legislation calls for TikTok's parent company ByteDance to divest itself of the social network. If it doesn't, US cloud providers and app stores are required to stop hosting the service or face steep fines. The Trump administration, however, has assured cloud and app store companies that they will not face fines while the deadline is extended. TikTok previously tried to fight the law banning the app, taking its battle to the Supreme Court. But the court sided with the government's argument that the app could pose a national security threat. US officials have for years argued that the Chinese government could use TikTok to spread propaganda or gather information on American users that it could then use to blackmail them in the future, but haven't publicly shared evidence of the danger. The prospect of a TikTok sale has garnered interest from a number of potential suitors. A group of investors led by billionaire Frank McCourt Jr. has expressed interest in buying the app, as have Microsoft, internet personality Mr. Beast, and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. The TikTok deadline comes as the US continues to work through a potential trade deal with China following Trump's massive increase, and subsequent pause, of tariffs on goods made in the country. According to the Associated Press, China was prepared to sign off on a TikTok deal, but pulled back after Trump unveiled the tariffs in April. Trump has said any sale would likely come after the two countries reach some kind of trade agreement. Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@ Follow him on X/Twitter at @DanielHowley.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is TikTok getting banned? What to know about the latest sale deadline
TikTok is temporarily safe from banishment once again. Trump announced on social media Friday afternoon that he was signing a second executive order to extend the deadline another 75 days following reports of a deal with China falling through due to Trump's tariffs. "My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress," Trump wrote. "The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed." TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, faced an April 5 deadline to sell its stake in the app or else be banned in the U.S. after Trump extended an earlier January deadline set by Congress last year. The order would extend the deadline by another 75 days, putting it at Thursday, June 19, 2025. USA TODAY notes this extension seeks to give the White House additional time to persuade the Chinese government to approve an agreement that the Trump administration hoped would allow the social media app to continue operating in the U.S. USA TODAY reporting states the deal was derailed when the two countries clashed over tariffs last week. Trump announced an additional 34% tariff on China in addition to the 20% already in place; China responded by announcing reciprocal 34% tariffs on all imports from the United States. A deal had allegedly been reached to move TikTok's operations in the United States to a new company based in America. The new entity would have been owned and operated by a majority of American investors, the person said, with ByteDance holding a minority position. Trump intended to sign an executive order initiating a 120-day closing period to finalize the paperwork and financing of the agreement, which officials said had the approval of investors and ByteDance. Trump had previously said he would postpone the ban if a deal was not reached in time, even floating the idea of lowering tariffs on China to encourage Beijing, where ByteDance is based, to support a sale of TikTok's U.S. assets. The Chinese-owned platform has raised questions over the years for allegedly harvesting data from those who have the app installed and use it frequently. TikTok stated it uses a separate, U.S.-based entity to store its American user data. CEO Shou Zi Chew has repeatedly sat before Congress and denied the app shares U.S. user data with the Chinese government. In April 2024, Congress passed, and former President Joe Biden signed, a ban on the video-sharing app. The legislation addressed concerns that the app and ByteDance posed a serious threat to national security. To stay in business in the U.S., the bill required TikTok to sell its U.S. assets to continue operating. It gave a deadline of Jan. 19, 2025. After the Supreme Court denied ByteDance's argument that a ban on the app infringes on users' free speech, TikTok went dark for U.S. users for about 12 hours before becoming available again — the app welcomed users back with a message crediting the president-elect Donald Trump for its return. On his first day back in office, Trump issued an executive order to extend the ban on TikTok, granting a 75-day extension. Despite Trump's support for a TikTok ban during his first administration, he had been vocal about wanting to "save" the platform during his third presidential run. The app returned to app stores later in February. Under the federal legislation that is in place, the president can implement a 90-day extension on the deadline to sell. However, Trump instead signed an executive order delaying the ban by 75 days. Trump is now signing a second executive order to postpone it once more. If he wishes to sign yet another executive order in another 75 days, he can. If you have the app on your phone, it won't go away, but services may be limited or unavailable, and you won't get any more software updates. It's unclear if you'd be able to add new content. Some users have discussed using a VPN, a service that allows your device to simulate being in a different location, to get around the regional ban but it's unclear how well that will work. While the app is not completely banned in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has blocked it on government devices and school networks. Back in 2023, he signed two bills to restrict TikTok — The Florida Digital Bill of Rights and HB 379. In an interview with Piers Morgan for Fox Nation the same year, he voiced his thoughts on TikTok and confirmed he would completely ban the app if he could. "I would. I think so. I think it's a security risk. They are harvesting so much data on our citizens," DeSantis said when asked about it. "There's a whole bunch of other apps and stuff that are out there and, honestly, I've got young kids and I don't want our kids on some of this stuff." According to USA TODAY, here's who has expressed public interest in the app recently: Amazon submitted a bid for the app on Wednesday, according to Reuters and the New York Times. Cryptocurrency foundation Hbar and Zoop, a startup co-led by the founder of OnlyFans, jointly submitted to the White House a plan to buy the app, company representatives confirmed to USA TODAY on Wednesday. Private equity firm Blackstone is considering a stake in TikTok, Reuters and the New York Times reported. Blackstone would join an existing group of non-Chinese shareholders led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic. Andreessen Horowitz, a California-based venture capital firm, also expressed interest in buying. The firm's investment would include Oracle, a massive U.S. tech company founded in part by Larry Ellison, one of the wealthiest people in the world. Project Liberty - Project Liberty, an organization led by former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt with the intention of 'constructing a new internet infrastructure,' submitted a bid to ByteDance earlier this year. In addition to McCourt, 'Shark Tank' investor Kevin O'Leary and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian have committed to the bid. MrBeast - A consortium of investors led by founder and CEO Jesse Tinsley also submitted a bid to ByteDance earlier this year. James 'Jimmy' Donaldson, the internet superstar more commonly known as MrBeast, is a part of the consortium, according to a news release from the law firm Paul Hastings. Perplexity AI - U.S.-based search engine Perplexity AI proposed a merger in January, according to Reuters. Rather than a sale, the merger would result in a new entity − a culmination of Perplexity AI and TikTok. Bobby Kotick, Doug McMillon, Microsoft and Rumble - Others who have expressed interest in purchasing the platform but have not made bids include Bobby Kotick, former CEO of video game company Activision; Doug McMillon, Walmart CEO; Microsoft, which proposed purchasing the platform with Walmart in 2020; and conservative video streaming platform Rumble. USA TODAY and C.A. Bridges contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: TikTok ban deadline extended by Trump. When it's getting banned
Axios
30-01-2025
- Business
- Axios
Trump issues executive order to save TikTok
President Trump on Monday issued an executive order that would direct the attorney general not to enforce a ban on TikTok for 75 days. Why it matters: In one of his first actions in office, Trump is prioritizing saving a platform that he says has been friendly to him. What's inside: During the 75 days, the Department of Justice is directed to take no action to enforce the law or impose any penalties against any entity for any noncompliance with the law, the executive order says. What they're saying: Speaking in the Oval Office Monday night, Trump said a deal where the U.S. gets half of TikTok and TikTok keeps the other half is "one of many ideas." "If I do the deal for the United States, then I think we should get half. I think the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok and congratulations, TikTok has a good partner." "Every rich person has called me about TikTok," Trump said when asked if a private company would be involved. If China does not approve the deal "it would be somewhat of a hostile act," Trump said, adding that his administration could impose tariffs on China if the country got in the way of a "good deal." For Trump to satisfy a qualified divestiture under the law, he would have to consult with government agencies and determine TikTok is no longer controlled by China. That means making sure it's impossible for China to still control TikTok's algorithm or data sharing. The law explicitly bars Trump from allowing a Chinese entity to continue being involved with TikTok, even through an agreement with a U.S. company. The law also states that Trump would need to certify to Congress not only that there's been "significant progress" toward executing a qualified divestiture, but there are "binding legal agreements" in place to enable the sale during the extension period. Catch up quick: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to block the law to ban TikTok. The executive order follows a rollercoaster of a weekend where CEO Shou Zi Chew chose to make TikTok go dark and then reinstated it the following day, crediting Trump. None of TikTok's actions were necessary under the law, which instead only required Google, Apple, and other web hosting services to stop carrying the app. If you need smart, quick intel on federal tech policy for your job, get Axios Pro Policy.
