Twitter has held preliminary talks with the music video social network TikTok to study a possible combination between the two and prevent the Chinese application from stopping working in the United States, as reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Last week, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an executive order that prohibits “any” transaction with TikTok, owned by the Chinese Bytedance, which he considers a danger to national security and that he will prohibit on September 15 if it does not reach a sale agreement for its operations in the United States.
After Microsoft’s initial interest, confirmed by its CEO, Satya Nadella, Twitter has also joined the companies interested in taking over TikTok, which has 100 million users in the United States alone.
According to WSJ, at the moment these are only preliminary conversations that point to a combination between the two services. Although it is less advanced in the negotiations than Microsoft and would have more difficulty paying for the purchase, Twitter argues that its smaller size would prevent antitrust investigations.
After knowing the executive order that gives TikTok 45 days in the United States, the platform has described it as “a dangerous precedent for freedom of expression and open markets” and criticizes that the measure is based on “reports without citing” and on “unjustified fears” of disinformation campaigns.
