A whirlwind of events have hit popular video app TikTok over the weekend since U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday, July 31, that he would ban the company's operations the next day.

His announcement set off a mad scramble to save the app's American operations by Sep. 15, the deadline given by Trump for TikTok to be bought by an American entity before its ban.

Microsoft then quickly expressed interest in taking over TikTok's American operations.

Despite him not supporting the deal involving Microsoft buying TikTok initially, Trump later changed tack, supporting the deal and even insisting on the U.S. getting "a lot of money" out from it.

Forced payment to U.S. Treasury illegal

Trump's condition for the deal to go through is said to be illegal and "akin to extortion".

According to finance professor Karin Thorburn, there needs to be "some structure and some law" for the levy to the U.S. Treasury to be legal, adding that the condition is "just something that Trump came up with", Financial Times (FT) reported.

China accuses the U.S. of bullying

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has called the forced sale a "blatant act of bullying, to which China firmly opposes".

Saying the U.S. has not provided any evidence for the national security concerns that prompted the action taken on TikTok, it said:

"If the U.S. goes this way, then any country can take similar measures against any U.S. company on the grounds of national security.

The U.S. must not open Pandora's box, or it will suffer the consequences."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has also implied that TikTok is a domestic company, despite TikTok repeatedly saying it is an independent company not influenced by the Chinese government.

Chinese state-controlled media chimed in as well, with China Daily likening Washington's actions to "inviting U.S. purchasers to participate in an officially sanctioned 'steal' of Chinese technology".

Hawkish Global Times also published an editorial that said in decoupling from China, the U.S. is being "unreasonable", and is harming its own "internet diversity and its belief in freedom and democracy".

Anger among the Chinese towards the U.S. and ByteDance founder

Chinese commenters also accused Zhang Yiming, the founder and CEO of ByteDance — the Chinese-based company that owns TikTok — of being unpatriotic by "surrendering" to the U.S.

Leaked comments by Zhang's acquaintance claimed that Zhang was feeling at peace with the forced sale of TikTok's American operations after he thought about Google and Facebook's "plight" in China.

Zhang also allegedly said he felt the American officials he talked to were "very polite", even though both sides could not communicate as the U.S. has "already deemed [him] as the enemy country".

Also, although Zhang has deleted all his posts on Weibo, neitzens managed to dig up his past comments that appeared to praise the U.S. while belittling China, such as a May 2011 post that expressed his doubt about the narrative that China has become more powerful than the U.S.

"Didn't Zhang used to praise the U.S. for allowing debate, which was unlike China where criticisms are one-sided? Now his words have come to bite him, why isn't he doing his best to argue with the U.S.?"

"If you yourself choose to bend over, the Chinese government can't help you either."

Reply: "Zhang has been part of the U.S., doubting the Chinese system, it was all public information on his Weibo."

"We're not happy at his misfortune or scolding him for kneeling down (to the U.S.), but are scolding him as he knelt down too fast.

At least struggle a bit more and work a bit harder. News of him agreeing to sell TikTok came on the heels of the ban's announcement like no time has passed."

"You love the U.S., the U.S. loves you. Zhang Yiming, I don't think you hate America, you just hate that you're not American.

ByteDance founder defends move

Zhang subsequently issued a second company-wide letter to Chinese staff, saying an atmosphere of "anti-China sentiment" is to be blamed for the forced sale of his app, Caixin Global reported.

He said the forced sale was not what the U.S. government wanted to see, and that their real aim is to completely ban the app in the U.S. "and maybe more".

However, he also defended the move to sell TikTok's U.S. operations, saying the company had "no choice" but to accede to the U.S. government's demands.

Former Google China head speaks out

Tech investor Lee Kaifu, former head of Google China before Google left the country in 2010, also criticised the U.S. in comments that were later leaked online.

Official comment from Kaifu Lee ex Google China head till 2009 on TikTok situation. I have been surprised he hasn’t been quoted yet, actually, given how often “Google China” has come up in the conversation. pic.twitter.com/4AccNIZMh2

— Rui Ma 马睿 (@ruima) August 4, 2020

His comments, which went viral, were widely praised by commenters.

Here are the three points that Lee made:

"1. For foreign internet companies which want to enter the Chinese market, China has laid out its laws and regulations very clearly (joint venture, ICP certificate, servers in China, content, etc.)

Those who are willing to abide by these laws can apply. This was how Google entered China.

2. When Google later did not want to abide by these laws, it decided to leave.

3. The U.S. did not lay out what TikTok would have to do to continue operating in the U.S., and never backed up its claims wth evidence.

Forced sale, only giving 45 days for the sale to be done, and wanting to take a cut from it.

These are not only incomparable to Google, but are also inconceivable."

According to Axios, there is no guarantee the sale can meet the Sep. 15 deadline, let alone the conditions Trump has given.

If the sale does not go through, Trump might then have to ban the app that has 100 million users in the U.S. — many of them young voters.

Top image adapted via Getty Images