Even as TikTok’s Chinese owners publicly resist pressure from the Biden administration to sell the wildly popular video app, conversations between TikTok and potential buyers are heating up, sources told On The Money at The NY Post.
TikTok is mulling over its options and exploring possible deals it considered when President Trump had threatened to ban the app in 2020, a source close to TikTok told On The Money.
The source wasn’t able to elaborate further, but talks orchestrated by the Trump administration had included a proposal for Oracle — the software giant owned by billionaire Larry Ellison — to partner with Walmart to own a US TikTok subsidiary, taking control of US user data and content moderation.
The talks come as politicians from across the political spectrum – including the progressive flank of the Democratic Party – are calling for a forced divestiture of TikTok from its Beijing-based parent, ByteDance.
he letter – sent to Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) who chair the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Finance; and Judiciary respectively – called out the nation’s largest bank for actively partnering with TikTok to create payment systems for the app.
“At a time when TikTok’s harm to consumers and national security has led to increased scrutiny it is egregious that JPMorgan Chase is working to bolster the company’s payments infrastructures,” the letter stated.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify in front of House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday, March 23 about the company’s ties to China.
In recent weeks, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said he will introduce a bipartisan bill this week that would grant the government authority to “ban or prohibit” foreign technology like the China-owned app TikTok.
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