Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™ and will not impact the outcome of the events.
TikTok has been the center of controversy, due to national security concerns, since 2020, when President Donald Trump first attempted to ban the app in the U.S. Former President Joe Biden continued to push forward with a ban, passing a mandate with overwhelming congressional support to force TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, to sell to a U.S. company or be banned in the U.S. After several lawsuits and attempts to reverse the decision, the app chose to go dark right before Trump was inaugurated. Since then, Trump has signed an executive order to delay the ban by 75 days, providing a reprieve for TikTok and millions of its U.S. users and more time to sell the app to an American company. Now, time is almost up as the app is at risk again of being banned on April 5.
The Trump administration has stated that it is in talks with several different groups interested in buying the billion-dollar platform. While TikTok has not made any formal statements about the incoming sale, several American investors have joined the bid to purchase the app. There have been several organizations that have coalesced together to buy TikTok. The People’s Bid for TikTok is an organization filled with individuals from various conglomerates looking to buy their own stake in TikTok, with a focus on data protections and privacy. The People’s Bid For TikTok is organized by Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt and is supported by Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder; Kevin O’Leary, investor and TV personality; and Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web. Jesse Tinsely, founder and CEO of Employer.com, is also leading an organization of American investors, announcing a $30 billion all-cash offer to acquire TikTok. Supporters of his initiative include David Baszucki, Roblox co-founder and CEO; Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital; and the popular YouTuber MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson. Other interested parties include Microsoft, Steve Mnunchin, Walmart, and others.
While the investors above have all made their announcements to purchase TikTok, the Chinese company has remained silent about the previous proposals. Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s CEO, has repeatedly thanked Trump and expressed excitement at the prospect of a sale to keep TikTok up and running. But there have been some reports, as recent as a month ago, claiming that ByteDance hasn’t even begun to consider offers. The Chinese government owns a part of ByteDance, and there’s no guarantee that they will sign off on a sale.
Within four months, the Trump administration has started bitter, nonsensical trade wars with Canada, Mexico, and China. While there is no indication how or if the trade war could affect the sale of TikTok, Trump has stated that he intends for the U.S. government to have 50% control of the app, but he hasn’t provided any details on what that would entail. Still, even with Trump’s insistence that he will save the beloved social media app, TikTok has yet to comment on the looming deadline. One of the biggest issues with the TikTok sale was their refusal to give up their algorithm. With only a few weeks left before the app is at risk again of getting banned, the company has a hard decision to make on whether or not they’ll give it up or keep it to themselves.
