In the United States, as the ban on TikTok is set to take effect in 10 days, a consortium formed by American billionaire and former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Frank McCourt, announced on Thursday (January 9) that they have officially proposed to acquire TikTok’s U.S. assets from its parent company ByteDance.
According to Reuters, McCourt’s non-profit organization “Project Liberty” and its partners have specially formed a consortium called “The People’s Bid” to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations. The consortium stated in a press release that they plan to restructure the TikTok app into a media platform owned by the United States, with a priority on user data security.
“We have proposed to ByteDance to realize the vision of ‘Project Liberty’ for a new TikTok – built on American technology architecture and centered around the users,” McCourt said in the statement. “By maintaining the platform operational without relying on the current TikTok algorithm, we aim to avoid the ban, allowing millions of Americans to continue enjoying the platform.”
The ban referred to in the statement is related to a “Sell or Ban” law signed by U.S. President Biden on April 24 last year. TikTok is required to separate from its Chinese parent company ByteDance by January 19, or face a nationwide ban in the U.S.
The consortium did not disclose the specific amount of their proposal, but stated that the acquisition plan has sufficient financial support from major private equity funds, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and also received debt financing from a large U.S. bank besides equity capital.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the TikTok ban on Friday (January 10).
Previously, ByteDance has repeatedly refused to sell TikTok and has appealed against the ban citing the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The case has gone through multiple layers of judicial review. Recently, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the law on December 6 last year, stating that the government’s national security reasons for the ban are compelling.
The U.S. Department of Justice stated that “China (CCP) continuing to control the TikTok app poses an ongoing threat to national security.”