TikTok Comes Back from Darkness: What’s Next?
After the temporary shutdown of the app that many Americans found to be a great entertainment outlet, news source, or even home for a business, users were greeted with a pop-up message when they reopened it:
“Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
TikTok went dark after the Chinese parent company, ByteDance, refused to give up its stake on the app and was forced to face a ban. The law passed with a unanimous decision by Congress last year called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act took effect on January 19, causing the ban that many creators feared and mourned with several teary-eyed goodbye videos to their followers.
With TikTok gone for a mere 12 hours, president-elect Donald Trump threw ByteDance a lifeline by working with them and making plans to sign an executive order. This would urge a 90-day extension to the ban, which would allow for him to coordinate a joint-venture between ByteDance and an American company.
TikTok temporarily back in the U.S. calls for immediate action for the president-elect, who takes office on January 20. As rumors spread for what is the appropriate action to take next, some American investors have already made bids for a stake in the app that currently satisfies 170 million users.
Mr. Wonderful’s Plan for TikTok
Infamously known as “Mr. Wonderful” from the TV series, Shark Tank, Kevin O’Leary recently shared his plans to co-own TikTok with Frank McCourt, who created the Project Liberty initiative and is familiar with TikTok’s algorithm, and share the platform with ByteDance.
In an interview on “The Big Money Show” Tuesday, O’Leary explained how the TikTok algorithm is sneaky and allows for the company to see all user data. He plans to change that under his control and implement an option where users can choose whether or not to share their data. Those who accepted would receive payment.
O’Leary made it clear in his interview that he has much faith in the platform and believes “This thing will become the world’s largest television network in a matter of two years.”
Steven Mnuchin Creating an Investor Group
After the House passed the bill to stop Chinese-owned TikTok in March, former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed that he would want to create an investor group to tackle the popular platform. He further explained in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he had already spoken to multiple people about the opportunity to acquire a stake in TikTok.
Moreover, Mnuchin’s previous experience serving under the Trump Administration and helping broker a deal in 2020 for Walmart and Oracle to partner with TikTok has gained the public’s trust when it comes to saving TikTok.
Mnuchin emphasized that it is better for U.S. businesses to take over TikTok for national security reasons, stating, “There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China.”
Will Elon Musk Take Action?
It is rumored that Musk may step up and attempt partial ownership of TikTok, especially after he wrote an X post about the TikTok ban being a “contrary to freedom of speech and expression.”
Even though the Supreme Court argued that the ban did not violate American’s First Amendment Rights, many people like Musk aren’t in agreement with the situation. Bloomberg pointed out that Chinese officials are talking about his potential investment and involvement with the Trump administration as hints to his decision.
Many also think that Musk has what it takes to own the booming platform because he purchased X, previously named Twitter, in October 2022.
YouTube Star MrBeast Gets Involved
James “Jimmy” Donaldson, who goes by the nickname of “MrBeast” on Youtube with 46.4 million subscribers, is a potential candidate as an investor based off of his recent posts on X.
On Monday, he posted: “Okay fine, I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.”
The public saw this information and rolled with it, writing a post the next day saying, “Unironically, I’ve had so many billionaires reach out to me since I tweeted this. Let’s see if we can pull this off.”
Although it’s unclear if MrBeast’s posts are solely humorous or if he even intended to get involved with the TikTok drama, he is now circulating buzz around the fact that he could team up with another investor and save the platform from being taken away for good.
Avoiding TikTok Going Dark Again
As Donald Trump officially takes office today, and the 90-day extension for the ban is in place, there is truly no telling what the future of TikTok will be. Avoiding TikTok going dark again will require political leaders to address the concerns that led to its shutdown and explore viable solutions, such as ownership transparency, data security measures, and government oversight.
While Trump continues to explore the options for keeping TikTok alive, these famous investors and other companies are eager to bid for their chance to save the app and update the algorithm, ensuring that it won’t go dark again.
