ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, accused Facebook of "plagiarism and defamation." Late Sunday, the Beijing-based firm said it was "committed to becoming a global company" but faced "all sorts of complex and unimaginable difficulties".

These include a "tense international political environment, clashes, conflicts with different cultures and plagiarism and defamation of competition by Facebook." ByteDance did not elaborate further on the statement.

ByteDance made the statement public before Microsoft confirmed it was in talks to buy TikTok. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke with President Donald Trump about a possible acquisition of TikTok in the US The technology giant is attempting a acquisition of TikTok in Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well.

TikTok has faced numerous allegations from Washington of collecting US user data for use by the Chinese government, but the platform has consistently denied this. Finally, President Trump warned that he would ban TikTok in the US

Source: CNBC