Now it's official: Microsoft seeks an agreement with the Chinese ByteDance to acquire 100% of the TikTok social media operations in the USA. The go-ahead came directly from Donald Trump, who in a phone call with Satya Nadella, CEO of the tech giant founded by Bill Gates, gave 45 days to close the game. If this is not the case, the White House is ready, as happened in India, to ban the popular app which in the United States has over one hundred million users, especially young people. It is precisely this last aspect that would have convinced the American president to reverse, after he said he was "firmly opposed" to the Microsoft operation and decided to ban TikTok by decree, perhaps putting it on the black list of unwanted companies in the USA. In short, the same treatment reserved for the giant of Huawei telecommunications.
But this time the doves prevailed, and some of the tycoon's closest advisors, starting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, would have convinced him that in electoral terms, less than a hundred days after the elections, it was not a good idea to obscure a such a popular app. In short, the hard line could turn into a boomerang on the consensus front. Also because TikTok has recently become very 'Americanized' in order to dispel any suspicion of 'espionage', hiring thousands of local staff in the New York and Los Angeles offices and hiring a top manager 'made in the USA', the Disney's ex Kevin Mayer. Meanwhile, Microsoft rejoices, also because the stock flies over 4% on Wall Street, and is committed to trying to complete the negotiations with the rich start-up ByteDance (over 100 billion market value) by September 15th. Talks that would concern not only the takeover of the shares held by ByteDance in the USA, but also in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In short, the challenge to Facebook and Google is launched. With the purchase of TikTok Microsoft would land for the first time in the world of social networks with a turning point probably destined to mark the future of the technological empire founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1977 and based in Redmond, Washington state. The possible agreement, however, is inevitably destined to increase tensions on the axis between Washington and Beijing.
The anger of the latter is irrepressible, and it is all in the words of the Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Enbin, who accuses the Trump administration of discrimination and of wanting to politicize economic and commercial issues. And with the excuse of national security - he continues - of wanting to sabotage all Chinese efforts on the technological front, and its ambitions to establish itself as a global player also in the social sector. In short, first Huawei with the history of 5G, today TikTok, tomorrow it will possibly be the turn of Alibaba - Beijing accuses - or of Tencent, owner of another very popular app in the US, WeChat. The anger over the possible purchase of TikTok by Microsoft is also unleashed on the social media of the Asian country, from Weibo (the Chinese Twitter) to Douyn (this is the name of TikTok in China). Anger also against ByteDance's founding leader, 37-year-old Zhang Yiming, accused of succumbing to pressure and even "kneeling" at the White House. And someone, addressed to the Beijing leadership, launches a provocation: "What if we ordered Apple to sell all its operations in China to Huawei?".
