TikTok says Oracle can review its source code, but deal won’t allow tech transfers

China's TikTok sought to tamp down domestic controversy over its deal with Oracle and Walmart, saying that there would be no technology transfer to Oracle, though the US company would be able to check its software for safety. The TikTok deal has been a vivid example of the Trump administration’s policy of reciprocity toward Chinese businesses. Supporters of the approach say it’s only fair to treat Chinese companies by the same standards to which US companies are held in China. Critics say the United States should not stoop to the strong-arm negotiating tactics that it criticizes other governments for using. US officials have followed Beijing’s playbook in demanding the viral video app give the government a cut of the deal, and in applying eleventh-hour pressure in threatening to remove TikTok from US app stores. China’s government has oppposed the Trump administration’s push to force a sale of TikTok’s US operations, tightening its technology export restrictions in late August. These export restrictions included “personalized information recommendation service technology based on data analysis,” which industry experts saw as a nod to TikTok.