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Trump seeks $5bn from TikTok deal to teach youth ‘real history’

New York, Sep 21 (IANS) US President Donald Trump has sought to use the TikTok deal with Oracle and Walmart to create a $5 billion fund to teach the youth the country’s “real history”.

TikTok, owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, has received a tentative approval from the Trump administration for a proposed deal meant to assuage security concerns the White House had raised and avoid a ban in the country where it has over 100 million monthly active users.

The President first talked about the education fund from the deal on Saturday as he left the White House for an election rally in North Carolina, the USA Today reported on Sunday.

During a campaign speech in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Trump said that he requested “$5 billion into a fund for education, so we can educate people as to real history of our country. The real history, not the fake history”.

As per the new arrangements, Oracle and Walmart together can invest to acquire 20 per cent of the newly-formed TikTok Global business.

Oracle announced it was chosen as TikTok’s secure cloud provider, while Walmart said it has tentatively agreed to a purchase 7.5 per cent stake in TikTok and its CEO Doug McMillon would serve as one of the five board members of the newly-created company.

The US Commerce Department has meanwhile delayed the TikTok ban in the US by a week.

“In light of recent positive developments, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, at the direction of President Trump, will delay the prohibition of identified transactions pursuant to Executive Order 13942, related to the TikTok mobile application that would have been effective on Sunday, September 20, 2020, until September 27, 2020 at 11.59 p.m.,” said a statement from the department.

–IANS

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