As TikTok is facing a forced sale in the United States, Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, in an internal letter to its employees said that the deal with Microsoft was the only way to stop TikTok from being banned.

He added that those critical of the acquisition do not see the “full context,” Reuters reported.

“As a company, we have to abide by the laws of the markets where we operate. It feels like the goal was not necessarily a forced sale, but given the current macro situation, a ban, or even more,” he had said.

Microsoft on Monday had confirmed the reports that suggested that it was in talks with ByteDance to buy a share of TikTok. US administration, which had threatened to ban the app, had changed its course and said that the app can keep operating if it was sold to an American owner. It also gave Microsoft 45 days to strike a deal.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump had said that a large share of the deal shall go to the US treasury. “If you’re a landlord, you have a tenant, the tenant’s business needs rent, it needs a lease,” Trump had said during a White House press briefing. Though he said that Microsoft agrees with the demand, the company has not yet made any official response.

Tik Tok ran into trouble after India and the US raised security concerns and accused it of collecting and distributing user data to the Chinese government, a claim that is denied by the company.