ByteDance Ltd., the privately owned Chinese technology company, will soon sell minority ownership stakes in the TikTok app to American companies Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc. The proposed arrangement, however, does little to address the most important U.S. national security concern with the wildly popular video-sharing platform. Pictured: ByteDance's corporate headquarters in Beijing, China. (Photo by Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

ByteDance Ltd., the privately owned Chinese technology company, will soon sell minority ownership stakes in the TikTok app to American companies Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc.

Oracle will become the "secure cloud technology provider" for a new U.S. company, TikTok Global, which will own most of the app's worldwide operations.

The proposed arrangement, however, does little to address the most important U.S. national security concern with the wildly popular video-sharing platform.

Using his emergency powers, President Trump on August 6 prohibited, after the expiration of a 45-day period, Americans from any transaction with ByteDance or any of its subsidiaries. As a practical matter, the order contemplated the closure of the TikTok app if it was not sold to an American company. The order has been extended.

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