As the deadline to ban short video app TikTok in the US is approaching, the race to buy it has intensified among tech companies. Meanwhile, Amazon has made a last-minute bet to buy TikTok. Let us tell you that if TikTok does not find a buyer, it will be banned in the US from Saturday. Amazon hints on Buying Tik tok among many other big companies.
According to sources, Amazon has sent this offer to US Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick through a letter. However, no official statement has come from the company yet.
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is from China and the US fears that this app may share users’ data with the Chinese government. Calling it a threat to national security, the US passed a law under which ByteDance will have to hand over ownership of TikTok to an American company or else shut down its operations in the country.
Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission had warned that ByteDance could share user data, such as browsing history, location and biometric information, with China’s authoritarian government. TikTok said it has never done so and has no intention to do so. TikTok said the US government has not provided evidence of this happening. President Donald Trump gave TikTok a few days’ relief from the ban as soon as he began his term. However, he has indicated that the ban may come into force if no deal is reached by Saturday. Who are the contenders for TikTok? Many big companies are in the fray to buy TikTok’s US operations.
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First among them is tech company Oracle, which already has a 12.5% stake in TikTok Global and is also its cloud technology partner. Apart from this, investment firm Blackstone is also showing interest in buying TikTok. At the same time, AI startup Perplexity AI has also proposed to merge TikTok’s US business with itself. The company says that it will redesign TikTok’s algorithm so that it is in line with US data security standards. Billionaire Frank McCord’s consortium group has offered $20 billion for TikTok and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is also associated with it as an advisor.
Apart from this, Employer.com founder Jesse Tinsley has offered $30 billion and Wyoming businessman Reed Rasner has offered $47.5 billion. What will be the future of TikTok? The policy of the US administration may also change between TikTok being banned or sold. Interestingly, Trump himself has millions of followers on TikTok and he considers it an important platform to reach young voters. Now the question is whether Amazon’s last minute bid will be able to save TikTok in America or will this app become history for American users? A big decision can be taken on this on Saturday.
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