 "4 groups in talks to buy TikTok, says Trump")
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that four groups were in talks to buy social media platform TikTok.
When asked by reporters if there was going to soon be a deal on TikTok, Trump replied: “It could.”
“We’re dealing with four different groups, and a lot of people want it … all four are good,” said Trump, according to Reuters.
Shortly after assuming office, Trump paused the bipartisan ban on TikTok for 75 days, allowing the app’s parent company ByteDance to sell the US operations to ensure the app’s continued availability in the United States. Before Trump’s reprieve, the ban had come into effect for a day or so on January 19.
Since granting the 75-day reprieve, the Trump administration has been facilitating the sale of TikTok’s US operations and various parties, ranging from Oracle to billionaire Elon Musk, have been reported at various points as potential buyers.
Oracle has discussed a deal to buy TikTok along with other investors, such as Microsoft, Perplexity AI has proposed to merge with TikTok, YouTuber Mr Beast has offered to buy the app’s US operations, billionaire Frank McCourt has submitted a proposal backed by Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary and Guggenheim Securities to buy TikTok’s US operations, according to Forbes.
As TikTok is controlled by a Chinese company and has access to vast amounts of personal data and has a problematic algorithm that is known to brainwash people into liking China, the Congress last year passed a bipartisan bill to ban TikTok on national security grounds if it failed to sell its US operations within a stipulated timeline. After the deadline passed, the app was banned in the United Statse on January 19 until Trump paused the ban.
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