Could a TikTok sale happen? Project Liberty bids as ban approaches

With the deadline for a potential ban on TikTok in the US approaching, billionaire and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has confirmed Project Liberty has made a formal offer to Bytedance, the platform’s Chinese parent company, to buy the US assets. of the social media giant.

The offer, announced Thursday by Project Liberty, comes ahead of a Jan. 19 deadline for ByteDance to sell the platform or face a ban on national security grounds.

Liberty Project President Tomicah Tillemann said in a statement that the organization would not publicly disclose the amount of the bid. However, the group previously said it had secured $20 billion in verbal commitments from a group of investors willing to bid for TikTok.

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Last year, President Joe Biden signed a law banning the foreign-owned app unless it sells its US assets. The legislation received overwhelming bipartisan support from lawmakers, who expressed concerns about the Chinese government’s potential to spy on the more than 170 million Americans who use TikTok and conduct covert influence operations.

The social media giant has repeatedly said it poses no security threat and the proposed ban violates free speech protections under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.

On Friday, the Supreme Court heard arguments from the US government and TikTok about the impending ban, which President-elect Donald Trump has recently said he does not support.

In late December, Trump asked the court to stay the January 19 deadline to give his incoming administration “an opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the issues at hand in this case.”

TikTok did not immediately respond for comment about the offer when contacted by USA TODAY.

What would Project Liberty buy?

If Project Liberty were to acquire TikTok, it would only be the American part of the platform and would not include TikTok’s algorithm, which China views as its intellectual property, McCourt told CBS last month.

According to a statement released Thursday, the nonprofit plans to migrate TikTok’s user base to an American-built digital infrastructure designed to put people in charge of their data.

Who is this potential buyer, Project Liberty?

In 2021, McCourt invested $100 million to create Project Liberty, an initiative aimed at decentralizing the Internet, Anna Feagan, McCourt Global’s director of communications, told USA TODAY. In 2023, he increased his investment to $500 million.

“The Internet is broken, and it’s urgent that we fix it,” McCourt said in a statement released on the Project Liberty website. “The institutions and ideals we hold dearest are being destroyed for the use of free apps that steal our personal data and digital identities.”

While TikTok has denied it would consider selling the app, McCourt thinks the parent company would be more open to discussions if and when the Supreme Court shuts down their US operation, according to Reuters.

To date, McCourt and his team have had “preliminary conversations” with members of the incoming administration in hopes of finding a solution before the application is closed.

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