TikTok sale to Walmart, Oracle takes back seat as Biden reviews security - WSJ

[February 10, 2021]  (Reuters) - Oracle Corp and Walmart Inc's plan to buy TikTok's U.S. operations has been pushed back indefinitely, as President Joe Biden reviews the previous administration's efforts to address potential security risks posed by Chinese tech companies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

 U.S. President Joe Biden accompanied by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (not pictured) attends a meeting with business leaders at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

The administration of former President Donald Trump had cited national security concerns in its targeting of TikTok, arguing that the personal data of U.S. users could be obtained by China's government, while TikTok denies the allegation.

This comes as TikTok's parent, ByteDance, finds itself in a legal tussle with the U.S government, with many federal courts barring the Commerce Department's attempt to shut down TikTok's operations in the United States.

Discussions have continued between representatives of ByteDance and U.S. national security officials, the WSJ report (https://on.wsj.com/3a6KA8z) said, citing people familiar with the matter.

TikTok has been in talks with Walmart and Oracle since September to finalize a deal that would shift TikTok's U.S. assets into a new entity to prevent its total ban on use in the country.

TikTok, which has over 100 million users in the United States, features a simple user interface, background music options and various special effects to help users make short-form entertaining videos.

TikTok, Oracle and Walmart did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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