What next for TikTok? MrBeast and Elon Musk among potential buyers as ban deadline looms
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Donald Trump has given 75 days for a buyer to save the app from disappearing in the US forever. TikTok was only offline for 12 hours in the US before incoming president Donald Trump signalled that he would delay the nationwide ban of the Chinese-owned app.
Trump gave a 75 day reprieve for TikTok and its 170 million users after signing an executive order on his first day in office on Monday, with the extension giving the incoming administration “an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action”.
The initial terms of the ban, which was upheld by the Supreme Court last week, stated that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance needs to divest its ownership to a non-China-based company in order to negate concerns that the app is being used as a tool to spread propaganda through its algorithm, or collect private data from US citizens.
President Trump has suggested that selling just 50 per cent of the firm would be enough to avoid a ban, with prospective buyers currently including YouTuber MrBeast and tech billionaire Elon Musk. The bid from 26-year-old MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, comes after the internet star teamed up with a group of investors in an effort to save the app. The exact amount of the bid has not been made public, though Trump has floated a figure in the region of $1 trillion (£809bn).
In a video posted to TikTok last week, Mr Donaldson said he wanted a “seat at the table” in any discussions to buy the platform. Mr Musk has not publicly expressed any intention to buy TikTok, but President Trump said he was open to the SpaceX, Tesla and X boss to acquiring it.
