Multiple sources are suggesting that Microsoft is in talks to buy TikTok, the popular video app owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance. A potential acquisition from Microsoft seems to stem from reports that President Trump would order ByteDance to sell its US operations. TikTok evolved from ByteDance's Douyin app which was primarily aimed at the Chinese market, before merging with the app musical.ly which brought TikTok to a worldwide audience. Since then the app has exploded in popularity and has subsequently attracted the ireful gaze of US lawmakers and regulators. As TikTok has risen in popularity, the app has been increasingly put under the microscope over concerns for privacy and national security. Regarding privacy, the app has already been caught copying iOS' clipboard contents, and Reddit CEO Steve Huffman criticized the app, calling it "fundamentally parasitic." TikTok also has a history of controversial data collection practices.

TikTok has also been caught in the middle of the back and forth between the US and China, and over the alleged ties that ByteDance has to the Chinese government. TikTok scrapes a shocking amount of data on its users, and under the China Internet Security Law, ByteDance would have to surrender that data if the Chinese government requested it. However, TikTok maintains that its servers aren't based in China, and as such, aren't subject to such laws.