United States President Donald Trump has issued a new marching order for Chinese tech giant ByteDance to sell the U.S. operations of its short video-sharing platform TikTok within 90 days, the Telegraph reported.

The order adds to the mounting prohibitions made by the Trump administration last week that the wildly-popular Chinese app terminate all operations in the country, his latest effort to add more heat to counter China's increasing global influence.

The stoppage order also covers WeChat, the popular social media app by China's Tencent.

According to Trump, there is strong proof that prompted him to believe that ByteDance might carry out an action that will threaten U.S. national security. ByteDance has engaged in discussions to divest its operations in Australia, New Zealand, and North America to tech giant Microsoft Corp.

Microsoft confirmed that it has held discussions with ByteDance for the acquisition of its business in the said territories. The Washington-based tech conglomerate is predicted to be the main bidder, with the deal projected to be worth between $10 billion and $30 billion.

Under the President's latest directive, ByteDance is expected to do away with all its copies of TikTok information associated with American users, and notify the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment the time and date of its elimination of all that data. The order also authorizes U.S. regulators to examine ByteDance's records and database systems to safeguard the integrity of personal information while discussions for the sale are being arranged.

Responding to an AFP inquiry, ByteDance disclosed that TikTok is "loved by 100 million Americans" because it is a platform that promotes, free expression, entertainment, and communication. ByteDance said it is determined to "bring happiness to families and meaningful careers" through its app in the coming years.

While TikTok is very popular for its best known for its innocuous short videos of people making funny faces and going viral on the Internet, U.S. officials are worried that user data could be obtained by Chinese communist authorities.

The Trump administration's move last week also cast suspicion on the U.S. operations of Tencent, a high-profile group in the online game market, and one of the richest firms in the world. China criticized the U.S. move as impulsive political maneuvering.

Meanwhile, TikTok and its U.S. personnel are proposing to file a legal action against the Trump administration for the order to divest the Chinese app, a lawyer preparing one of the lawsuits documents, disclosed.