0:00:00: Now let's take a look the latest on TikTok. The social media app has vowed to fight a new law

0:00:05: which could see it sold or banned in the United States. The bill gives TikTok's Chinese owner

0:00:11: ByteDance nine months to sell its stake or the app will be blocked in the United States

0:00:16: where it has some 170 million users every month. TikTok says it'll challenge the move in court.

0:00:22: Its chief executive had this to say on TikTok of course.

0:00:26: Make no mistake this is a ban. A ban on TikTok and a ban on you and your voice. Politicians may

0:00:33: say otherwise but don't get confused. Many who sponsored the bill admit a TikTok ban is the

0:00:39: ultimate goal. TikTok has huge reach as we mentioned across the U.S. it has 170 million users and 40%

0:00:46: of those say it's their regular source of news. There are concerns among politicians that the

0:00:52: Chinese authorities could misuse their data. TikTok has consistently denied sharing information

0:00:58: with the Chinese government. Its chief executive has been grilled by lawmakers twice in less than

0:01:03: a year. I'm making the following commitments to you and to all our users. Number one we will keep

0:01:10: safety particularly for teenagers as a top priority for us. Number two we will firewall protected U.S.

0:01:18: data from unwanted foreign access. Number three TikTok will remain a place for free expression

0:01:25: and will not be manipulated by any government. The U.S. is not the only country taking action.

0:01:32: India is the largest country to place a blanket ban on the app. It also banned 58 other Chinese

0:01:37: apps. Other countries have banned TikTok on government-owned devices like Australia and

0:01:42: Canada. In the U.K. the British government banned ministers from using it. Staff from the European

0:01:48: Commission and the NATO alliance are not allowed to have TikTok on their work phones. Well earlier

0:01:54: we spoke to Paresh Dave, senior writer at Technology Magazine Wired, who talked through

0:01:59: what companies might be interested in buying TikTok. Certainly a company like Microsoft has

0:02:03: expressed interest in TikTok before. They really want to get deeper into the social media game.

0:02:09: Oracle has tied up with TikTok over the last couple of years, but mostly to

0:02:16: tout that its cloud services are legitimate. It doesn't seem like they're really a legitimate

0:02:21: buyer, but maybe a bunch of private equity funds could team up and pool together money.

0:02:26: I also wouldn't rule out that Elon Musk, even though Tesla stock has been sinking,

0:02:33: perhaps he could, you know, make a run for TikTok as well. I wouldn't rule it out.

0:02:37: But the thing to keep in mind about a sale is that the Chinese government has the ability to

0:02:42: veto a sale here because they've put ByteDance, which is TikTok's owner, they've put their

0:02:48: technology on the export control list. So it's our understanding that China could veto any

0:02:53: sale. And it's unlikely they would want to approve a sale under these circumstances.