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- Donald Trump has said he is open to either Elon Musk or Larry Ellison buying TikTok
- Trump said he is interested in getting 50 per cent ownership of the app for the US
- TikTok was banned in the US over data collection allegations
President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, says he is open to either the owner of Tesla and X, Elon Musk, or Oracle Corp co-founder, Larry Ellison, buying TikTok.
Trump, during a press briefing, said he is open to either of the businessmen buying TikTok on the condition that the buyers give 50 per cent ownership to the US.
He said, “I would be if he (Musk) wanted to buy it. I’d like Larry to buy it, too. I have the right to make a deal. The deal I think is this: TikTok is worthless if it doesn’t get a US permit. With a permit, it’s worth like a trillion dollars.
“So what I’m thinking about saying to somebody is ‘buy it and give half to the United States of America and we’ll give you a permit and you’ll have a great partner in the United States and they’ll have something that is more valuable because they have the ultimate partner in the United States.”
TikTok was banned in the US over data collection allegations
It would be recalled that TikTok was inaccessible to its 170 million users in the US on January 19 following a government ban.
The social video app and the US government have been engaged in a legal battle over its data collection practices and alleged links to the Chinese government.
To address this concern, former President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill on April 24, 2024, asking ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to divest its controlling stake in the app within six months or face a ban in the United States.
In May 2024, TikTok challenged the bill in court, saying it violated free speech rights and the First Amendment protections for the 170 million users of TikTok in the US.
However, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law on the grounds of national security. The justices ruled that ByteDance must divest its US operations by January 19, 2025, or face an effective ban.
Consequently, TikTok was temporarily banned and was unavailable on Apple and Google app stores for users in the US in keeping with federal rules.
Trump’s move to save TikTok in the US
Before his inauguration, President Trump proposed a 50 per cent ownership of the app by US investors.
Trump said after his swearing-in on Monday, January 20, that he would make an executive order to “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.
“I would like the United States to have a 50 per cent ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up,” he wrote on Social Truth.
According to Trump, the executive order would specify there would be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before his order.
Earlier, Trump said he would likely grant a 90-day reprieve to TikTok from the ban he takes office.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an order to delay the ban for 75 days, allowing TikTok to start working again.
TikTok US ban: Trump proposes 50% US ownership as Apple, Google remove app on stores
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that in a move to salvage the ban on TikTok in the United States of America, Donald Trump proposed a 50 per cent ownership of the app by US investors.
Trump said that after his swearing-in on Monday, January 20, he would make an executive order to extend the period before the law’s prohibitions take effect to protect the US national security.
