TikTok Nears Data Deal With Oracle

TikTok is nearing a deal with Oracle to store its US users’ information and prevent access to TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The deal represents an attempt by TikTok to address concerns raised by US national security panel over data integrity on the popular short video app, reported Reuters.

The agreement would come a year and a half after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok because of fears that U.S. user data could be passed on to China’s communist government.

That order was not enforced after Joe Biden succeeded Donald Trump as US President last year, but CFIUS has continued to harbor concerns over data security at TikTok that ByteDance is now hoping to address, the sources said.

It is not clear whether CFIUS will find that TikTok’s partnership with Oracle will resolve the national security issues it has identified, the sources said. A spokesperson for the US Department of the Treasury, which chairs CFIUS, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TikTok came under fire from the Donald Trump administration in 2020 after the then-president called for the app to be banned from all US app stores unless sold to a local company. TikTok had previously been in talks with both Oracle and Microsoft for such a deal.

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