Watch Live: Trump Briefs Press As TikTok-Oracle Deal Talks Drag On

Instagram founder Kevin Systrom and others have warned that the White House’s crackdown on TikTok – the Chinese-owned social media platform that has attracted some 100 million American users – is a net negative for the app’s American rivals, even as shares of Facebook and Snap popped as the Trump Administration publicized its plans for barring new downloads of both TikTok and WeChat, two companies that had been targeted in an executive order last month. It’s the first step toward a total ban, if a deal isn’t worked out by Nov. 12 (at least, as far as TikTok is concerned).

As a result, TikTok’s American CEO Vanessa Pappas tweeted an invitation for Facebook, which owns Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, some of the world’s most popular social media and digital communications platforms, to join TikTok’s lawsuit fighting the Trump Administration’s ban.

We agree that this type of ban would be bad for the industry. We invite Facebook and Instagram to publicly join our challenge and support our litigation. This is a moment to put aside our competition and focus on core principles like freedom of expression and due process of law.

— Vanessa Pappas (@v_ness) September 18, 2020

And a couple of hours later, with US stocks trading in the red, an anonymous US official reassured CNBC that a deal to save TikTok

*STILL A CHANCE FOR TIKTOK DEAL SAYS SENIOR ADMIN. OFFICIAL:CNBC

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) September 18, 2020

With the state of the “deal” (which would leave Oracle and Walmart among a group of investors backing a newly independent US-based company housing TikTok’s international business) in constant flux, reports are claiming that AG William Barr is now the lone senior administration official with a say in the CFIUS decision who remains unconvinced. Questions remain about whether ByteDance will retain control of the TikTok content recommendation algorithm.

Correction – ALGO not ALOG https://t.co/neueG5MUST

— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) September 18, 2020

Despite reports that Beijing could give the deal its blessing, US officials are now claiming that China could still sabotage the deal.

Just spoke to a senior administration official about the state of play on Oracle/Tik Tok right now. SAO said: No former CFIUS committee meetings yet, but Steven Mnuchin is holed up on the phones trying to work this out with his team. “No final decisions have been made.”

— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) September 18, 2020

SAO: There is still “a chance” for an Oracle/Tik Tok deal by Monday.

— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) September 18, 2020

SAO on Tik Tok: “Mnuchin cares about the deal but POTUS could take it or leave it.”

— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) September 18, 2020

SAO says the Chinese government has not blessed the deal yet: “Chinese government has yet to signal that they would take the deal. That’s an important point here. They will be heard from.”

— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) September 18, 2020

The official says that there is a scenario in which the parties could agree to a deal and Trump could bless it, and the Chinese will block the sale anyway.

— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) September 18, 2020

With the administration threatening to ban new downloads of both TikTok and WeChat (a popular chat & payments app developed by China’s Tencent) as soon as Sunday night, President Trump is appearing at a hastily arranged 1400ET press briefing. Speculation among the White House press corp is that the briefing will focus primarily on the deal.

We have a sneaking suspicion, however, that the briefing will leave us with more questions than answers.