TikTok has over 170 Million users worldwide, each depending on a U.S. company to buy and take over the corporation before it is banned on January 19th. There is still hope for someone to buy the social media company, but now the question is who?
With less than a week left for an American-based company to swoop in and save the day, TikTok’s fate now rests in the hands of the government. President-elect Donald Trump proposed a ban on TikTok during his first term, according to Trump White House Archives. Still, he is attempting to reverse the actions the Biden administration recently took to uphold the ban.
In May of 2024, parent company ByteDance sued the United States federal government, and the Department of Justice quickly returned the lawsuit against TikTok and ByteDance for Violations of Children’s Privacy Laws, reports the Office of Public Affairs. The federal appeals court upheld the ban on the Beijing-based company, but on December 27th, 2024, Trump unexpectedly asked the Supreme Court of The United States to pause the ban on the mega-popular app. If the ban were to be upheld on the 19th, it would prohibit U.S. app stores from hosting TikTok.
According to Inc.com, there are a few contenders for the sale. Project Liberty (Frank McCourt and Kevin O’Leary), Bobby Kotick, Dough McMillon, Microsoft, or Elon Musk. Currently, the CEO of Tesla and X, Elon Musk, is gaining the most attention as a contender who proposed purchasing the company from ByteDance. The Beijing-based company is likely looking for a sum of forty to fifty million dollars. This isn’t a tough number for the multi-billionaire, as he previously bought X in October of 2024, says NPR.
With all this being said, there is still too much unknown information about the status of TikTok’s potential purchase. Even though there are many plausible contenders for the purchase, it comes down to the decision of the Supreme Court. If you want to help make a difference in the decision to uphold or reverse the banning of TikTok, you should write to or speak with your local Senators.