As the U.S. government recognizes China's ByteDance's video platform TikTok as a national security threat and moves to ban its use, TikTok creators hold a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Mar. 22 to express their opposition to this move. Previously, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a bill on the 1st that grants the president the authority to impose a total ban on TikTok./Courtesy of Yonhap News

The board member of TikTok's parent company ByteDance noted that negotiations will take place soon to prevent the shutdown of TikTok's services in the United States, CNN reported on the 22nd (local time).

Bill Ford, CEO of General Atlantic, a major investor in ByteDance, stated at an event held in Davos, Switzerland, that "maintaining TikTok is beneficial for all parties" and that "starting this weekend, the Chinese government, the U.S. government, ByteDance, and the board will participate in the negotiations." He added, "There may be other solutions possible besides a sale."

TikTok faced a crisis of expulsion from the United States when the so-called "TikTok ban law" was passed in April last year. The bill stipulated that if ByteDance did not sell TikTok's U.S. business rights to local corporations, a service ban would be implemented.

With the deadline for the sale approaching, TikTok temporarily suspended its services in the U.S., but the situation was temporarily eased when then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order delaying the law's implementation for 75 days. Since then, ByteDance has maintained a negative stance on the sale of TikTok.

Former President Trump mentioned during a press conference that he would like to see Elon Musk or Oracle's Larry Ellison acquire TikTok, expressing his opinions related to the sale. Several investors have also shown interest in acquiring TikTok, but negotiations have not made substantial progress.

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