ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE -- President Donald Trump said he will take action as soon as Saturday to ban Chinese-owned video app TikTok from the United States.
Trump made the announcement to reporters Friday on Air Force One as he returned from Florida. Trump said, “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.”
U.S. lawmakers have raised intelligence and privacy concerns about the company’s ownership.
The company has denied allegations that it shares user data with the Chinese government.
The company’s operations in the U.S. has been under review by the secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Trump’s comments on Friday aboard Air Force One came after published reports that the administration is planning to order China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok.
There were also reports that Microsoft is in talks to buy the app. TikTok says it does not comment on rumors or speculation.
TikTok has said it has tens of millions of U.S. users and hundreds of millions globally. But its Chinese ownership has raised concerns about censorship of videos and the potential for sharing user data with Chinese officials.