TikTok will be banned in the U.S. Saturday if a buyer isn't secured

A recent Pew Research survey found that support for a ban on the platform has dipped considerably, while fewer U.S. adults now consider the platform to be a national security threat.

Citing national security concerns due to the app’s Chinese ownership, Congress passed a law last year forcing the sale of TikTok unless its taken over by a different owner. The ban briefly took effect in January until President Donald Trump signed an executive order giving the company a 75-day reprieve, making the new sale deadline this Saturday.

Trump is reportedly meeting with top aides to discuss options to preserve TikTok in the U.S., the Times also reported. One of the proposals reportedly under consideration is an ownership structure involving private equity company Blackstone and tech giant Oracle. The conditions of the law mandate that no more than 20% of TikTok be owned by companies located in a list of so-called adversarial countries, which includes China.

Trump has dangled the promise of lowered tariffs on Chinese goods entering the U.S. if China agrees to the sale. TikTok, meanwhile, has maintained that a big reason it doesn’t consider itself for sale is because China would block the transaction.

Amazon has put in an 11th-hour bid to buy TikTok, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The three people familiar with the bid told the Times that Amazon’s bid is not being taken seriously. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the reported offer.

Trump said Monday that “there will be a deal” to separate TikTok from its Chinese owners.

“We have a lot of potential buyers,” he told reporters. “There’s tremendous interest in TikTok. The decision is going to be my decision. As you know, through Congress they’ve given me the power to make the decision. We have a great team of people essentially taking bids.”

Others bids to buy TikTok include one from Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary and Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt; one from YouTube star MrBeast, born Jimmy Donaldson, and Employer.com founder Jesse Tinsley; and one from artificial intelligence company Perplexity.