In a dramatic intervention into one of the tech world's most high-stakes standoffs, former US President Donald Trump has issued a stark ultimatum concerning the future of TikTok: it must become a fully American-owned company or face being shut down.
The controversial statement, made on his social media platform Truth Social, represents a stunning reversal from his previous position and throws a major curveball into the ongoing political and corporate battle over the app's fate.
The Core Demand: A Complete Severance from China
Trump's central argument hinges on national security. He asserts that TikTok's parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, is irrevocably tied to the Chinese Communist Party. This link, he claims, makes the app a potent tool for espionage and propaganda, allowing China to access vast amounts of data on American citizens and manipulate public opinion.
His solution is unequivocal: ByteDance must relinquish all control. Merely housing US data on servers managed by an American company like Oracle is, in his view, entirely insufficient. The ownership itself, he insists, is the fundamental threat.
A Surprising Reversal of Stance
The move is particularly striking given Trump's own history with the platform. During his presidency, he attempted to ban TikTok via executive order, a move ultimately blocked by the courts. However, he had previously expressed support for a deal that would have seen Oracle and Walmart take significant minority stakes in a new US entity, TikTok Global.
His latest comments represent a hardening of position, demanding nothing less than a full divestiture and condemning any arrangement that leaves ByteDance with any influence or financial stake.
The Political and Commercial Fallout
This pronouncement sends shockwaves through both Washington and Silicon Valley. It:
- Aligns with Hawks: Places Trump firmly alongside China hawks in Congress who are pushing a bipartisan bill to force ByteDance to sell TikTok.
- Complicates the Landscape: Creates significant uncertainty for any potential buyers or partners, as his influence within the Republican party remains substantial.
- Highlights Data Fears: Reinforces the central argument that data security, not just content moderation, is the primary concern for US policymakers.
The ball is now effectively in ByteDance's court. The Chinese government has consistently opposed a forced sale of what it considers a crown jewel of its technology industry, potentially setting the stage for a protracted legal and diplomatic clash.
With over 170 million users in the US alone, the outcome of this fight will redefine the limits of tech sovereignty, data governance, and the escalating tech cold war between the world's two largest economies.
