President Donald Trump has tapped Vice President JD Vance to steer the cost on the high-stakes sale of TikTok forward of a looming April deadline that may see the app completely shuttered in america.
Based on Punchbowl Information, which cited a number of sources on Capitol Hill and within the White Home, Vance, together with nationwide safety adviser Michael Waltz, might be tasked with dealing with the video platform’s sale to a attainable American entity amid considerations concerning the quantity of information assortment the Chinese language-owned firm performs. The duo may even oversee the nationwide safety features of a attainable transaction.
It makes some sense that Trump would give Vance the function, on condition that he’s a former enterprise capitalist and was beforehand behind investments for platforms comparable to Rumble, which emerged as an alternative choice to YouTube.
However this received’t be a straightforward activity, as Vance should navigate considerations from nationwide safety hawks from his personal social gathering, comparable to Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. Plus, there might be intense fallout if Vance fails, particularly contemplating 170 million Individuals use the app and will discover themselves lower off.
As Punchbowl Information talked about, Vance received’t begin with a clean slate. Final month, Trump claimed that Microsoft was in shopping for TikTok. Co-president and DOGE chair Elon Musk might buy it, too. Then there’s billionaire Frank McCourt and his enterprise associate Kevin O’Leary (of “Shark Tank”), who additionally expressed openness to teaming up with different patrons to take over U.S. operations of TikTok.
This latter pitch may acquire essentially the most steam, as McCourt is reportedly telling Republicans on Capitol Hill that he and O’Leary would absolutely finish Chinese language management of the app. McCourt has additionally met with Cotton already, Punchbowl Information reported.
Then once more, earlier this week, Trump signed one other one among his notorious government orders making the Treasury and Commerce Division create a “sovereign wealth fund” for the U.S. and urged the cash acquired via the fund might purchase a 50% stake in TikTok. This, he stated, would permit TikTok to function within the states, probably with the app’s present homeowners or new ones.
It’s essential to recollect how we acquired right here. TikTok’s troubles started after Congress handed a bipartisan invoice that was later signed into legislation by former President Joe Biden, mandating the app’s Chinese language proprietor ByteDance promote the app to a U.S. entity or be shut down. The ban was over considerations that the Chinese language authorities might manipulate content material and acquire entry to delicate person information via the app.
Whereas Trump tried to ban the app in 2020, he later got here to its protection and signed an government order on his first day in workplace to pause enforcement of the legislation for 75 days. That grace interval will quickly expire, although, on April 5, and ByteDance has expressed little curiosity in promoting.
However with TikTok again on-line after shutting down for lower than at some point, the corporate launched into a goodwill tour aimed toward welcoming Trump forward of his second White Home stint. Not solely did TikTok’s CEO, Shou Chew, attend the president’s January inauguration, however the app additionally sponsored a pre-inauguration bash in Trump’s honor.
Now, Vance might be accountable for “quarterbacking a deal to save TikTok,” which was initially pushed by the best however enabled by Democrats. Hopefully, he’s too busy defending racists to have time to dealer a sale, and any blame for TikTok’s downfall falls again on Republicans since they’re those who acquired us right here.
