The sale of TikTok is imminent, McCourt plans an acquisition and promotes a decentralized platform.

The US government is concerned about the relationship between TikTok's parent company ByteDance and the Chinese government, and has requested ByteDance to sell TikTok to American buyers by January 19, 2025, otherwise it will be banned. Billionaire Frank McCourt has expressed interest in acquiring TikTok and plans to transform it into a platform centered on user data protection.

TikTok needs to be sold before Trump takes office.

The US government is concerned that ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has ties to the Chinese government, which may lead to user data being obtained by the Chinese government. These concerns have resulted in multiple legislative and executive orders against TikTok. A law signed by President Biden in April states that if ByteDance does not sell it to a US buyer, the app will be banned due to national security concerns.

According to the Supreme Court of the United States, TikTok must be sold by January 19, 2025, otherwise it will be banned in the United States, and this date happens to be the day before Trump takes office.

TikTok CEO Zhang Yiming recently met with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago estate and also requested the Supreme Court to review the case. The appeals court agreed this week to hear TikTok's challenge to the law on January 10 (9 days before the ban is expected to take effect). This is the final effort, and Bloomberg analysts believe that TikTok only has a 30% chance of avoiding the ban. But as ByteDance exhausts legal options, it may be more inclined to seek acquisition.

Billionaire McCourt hopes to acquire TikTok

Real estate tycoon and former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Frank McCourt, has become a strong and unexpected contender for this application. According to Bloomberg citing informed sources, they are even recruiting possible CEOs, and have contacted former TikTok COO V. Pappas.

McCourt hopes to be the white knight. His acquisition TikTok proposal may pique people's interest because he doesn't want the app's algorithm to be banned. Instead, McCourt believes he can create a better system, more akin to some emerging decentralized platforms like Bluesky. These apps are designed to allow users to choose from a variety of sources and give them more control over their data, and most importantly, their follower lists.

According to previous reports, McCourt hopes TikTok can be transformed into a platform centered around user data protection. A consortium led by him is planning to use the decentralized social networking protocol (DSNP) derived from the Project Liberty to achieve this goal. The Project Liberty, founded by Frank McCourt, aims to regain people's control over their digital lives.

(American billionaire plans to decentralize TikTok using Polkadot parallel chain)

McCourt even held a dinner in Malibu, California, where he marketed Project Liberty and TikTok 2.0 to the top 20 KOLs of the app, a group with over 100 million fans.

McCourt believes that he is looking for a solution that can solve everyone's problems. 'China wins because they don't sell algorithms. Shareholders win because they get some value from the American platform. Obviously, the user group wins because Trump wins by fulfilling his commitments. American citizens win.'

According to Bloomberg, potential buyers of TikTok include Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon, and other companies.

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