US President Donald Trump has said that he is not in favour of any US company buying TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance after reports surfaced that Microsoft is in talks of acquiring US operations of the Chinese app.
Taking it to Twitter, CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins said, "President Trump announces to reporters on Air Force One that he’s banning TikTok."
In another tweet, Collins quoted Trump as saying, "Well, I have that authority. I can do it with an executive order or that." She further added the pool says Trump made clear he was not in the favor of a deal to let a US company buy TikTok’s American operations.
Meanwhile, other US media reports said Trump called the decision "severance" and firmly rejected the reported spinoff deal involving Microsoft buying TikTok.
Speaking to a group of reporters in Air Force One, Trump said, "We're banning them from the United States." Trump said he plans to ban the TikTok app in the US through executive authority.
Some other reports also said that Donald Trump would ban TikTok from the US as early as on Saturday.