 "‘Hope Xi does it': Trump hints at mystery buyer for TikTok but keeps name under wraps")
US President Donald Trump has said that TikTok has a potential buyer and he could announce the deal within two weeks.
This is not the first time, however, that Trump has made such an announcement. He had said the same in January and March only to grant TikTok extensions to the waiver from a ban.
Last year, Congress passed a bill and then-President Joe Biden signed it into law that said that TikTok must either sell its US operations to a non-Chinese entity or get banned in the United States. The ban came shortly before Trump’s inauguration, but Trump swore to keep the social media platform afloat and granted it a waiver and then two extensions — first in April and second in June.
ALSO READ: TikTok manipulates content, brainwashes users into liking China, finds research
Even though TikTok has been proven to be a tool of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to peddle its propaganda and carry out influence operations, Trump vowed to save the app as he believes influencers on the app played a key role in his victory in the 2024 presidential election.
‘We have a buyer’
More than three months after he said there were four potential buyers , Trump has now narrowed it to one. He did not take any names.
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo for Fox News, Trump said that he hoped Chinese President Xi Jinping would approve the deal.
As TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance, the Chinese regime would need to approve any sale of TikTok’s US operations.
“We have a buyer for TikTok by the way. I think I will need probably China’s approval and I think President Xi will probably do it. It’s a group of very wealthy people,” said Trump.
When asked about the name of the buyer, Trump said “I’ll tell you in about two weeks”.
Previously, media reports have said that at least four individual and institutional buyers had shown interest in buying TikTok.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsPreviously, Oracle along with other investors like Microsoft discussed a deal to buy TikTok, Perplexity AI proposed to merge with TikTok, YouTuber Mr Beast offered to buy the platform, and billionaire Frank McCourt submitted a proposal backed by investor Kevin O’Leary and Guggenheim Securities to buy TikTok, according to Forbes.
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