A few days ago, President Trump made a statement to reporters aboard Air Force One that he was considering banning TikTok in the US. The reason for this potential ban had come from growing concerns of the app selling user's data to the Chinese government, despite TikTok denying these allegations. However, there may be a chance that TikTok could stay as Microsoft continues to pursue a deal to take over operations for the app in the United States.

Prior to the threatened ban, President Trump had ordered TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell its shares to a US-based company. At that time, rumors began to surface that Microsoft was interested in purchasing these shares of TikTok in an effort to avoid the app being banned altogether. Despite this, it seems like President Trump has decided to scrap that idea and move forward with a full ban of the app.

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Microsoft isn't giving up that easily, however. In a post today on the Microsoft Blog, the tech company stated, "Following a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Donald J. Trump, Microsoft is prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States." The post went on to say that Microsoft will "move quickly to pursue discussions" with ByteDance and will complete these discussions "no later than September 15, 2020."

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While Microsoft included a statement that said it "looks forward to continuing dialogue with the United States Government, including with the President," many are skeptical as to if these conversations will actually help to change the President's mind. A new theory concerning why President Trump wants to ban TikTok in the US has begun to swell on social media, with many thinking it has to do with TikTok users ruining his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma back in June. If this happens to be the case, Microsoft might not be able to talk the President out of his decision.

It'll be interesting to see what the near future has in store for TikTok. According to a recent video from TikTok's US General Manager, Vanessa Pappas, said that the app is, "not going anywhere" in response to President Trump's threats. It seems like whether or not Microsoft is involved in the future of TikTok, a battle is surely brewing.

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Source: Microsoft Blog