EXPLAINER-TikTok ban: What's next for app as bidding war rages?

LONDON, April 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Ahead of an April 5 deadline for TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the video app or face a ban in the United States, bidders are lining up to make a deal, but it is not clear yet if a sale will go through on time.

President Donald Trump has said he is "very close" to reaching a deal on TikTok, with multiple investors involved.

After unveiling new global tariffs, Trump said on Thursday he would consider a deal for TikTok in which China approves the sale in exchange for relief from the new levies - now at 54% for Chinese goods imported into the United States.

Here's what you need to know about the future of TikTok.

WHO IS BIDDING FOR TIKTOK?

Zoop, a startup created by OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely, partnered with the cryptocurrency foundation Hbar Foundation to bid for the app.

Amazon, Perplexity AI, marketing platform AppLovin, U.S. billionaire Frank McCourt and influencer Jimmy Donaldson, better known as the YouTube star Mr. Beast, have also entered bids.

Private equity firm Blackstone is discussing joining ByteDance's non-Chinese shareholders, led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, in bidding for the business.

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is in talks to buy out TikTok's Chinese investors, as part of a bid led by tech company Oracle.

Trump has said he would like the U.S. government to have a 50% stake in any joint venture.

TikTok did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

WILL SELLING TIKTOK IMPROVE NATIONAL SECURITY?

The U.S. government has long claimed TikTok is a national security concern, but has released little evidence of specific breaches. Cybersecurity experts are divided over the effects of the ban.

"There was never a plausible threat model that showed the data collected by TikTok about its users could be used to undermine U.S. national security," said Milton L. Mueller, a cybersecurity expert from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"A change in ownership makes little security difference ... the security impact will be non-existent," Mueller said.

He said that unless U.S. users were disconnected from global users in the way that Chinese apps are siloed from the global internet, content and data could be provided from ByteDance if requested by the Chinese government.

However Matt Pearl, a director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank, said selling TikTok would prevent the Chinese government from spying on Americans or engaging in influence operations by manipulating the algorithm.

Trump could also target other Chinese companies, such as AI company DeepSeek, in a push for data sovereignty under the law.

"A sale would prevent the (Chinese government) from engaging in nefarious activity using the algorithm/data it has (in ways that a U.S. owner would not be motivated to do), but it would not necessarily change transparency or data-sharing practices, which would be up to the new owner and Congress," Pearl said in emailed comments.

Babette Ngene, a director of digital civil liberties non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation, said banning TikTok was unconstitutional and disastrous for free speech.

"To truly reduce the supply of data that foreign adversaries can obtain, we need federal privacy legislation that limits how all companies collect and share our personal data," she said.

WHY HAS TIKTOK REMAINED IN THE U.S.?

The push to ban TikTok began in 2020 when Trump issued an executive order over national security concerns related to Chinese ownership.

Although the order faced legal challenges, the Biden administration later backed a legislative approach for ByteDance to either divest the app or have it banned nationwide.

Trump said he saved the app because it helped him win the 2024 presidential election, adding he had "a warm spot in (his) heart for TikTok".

This is despite lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle saying that ByteDance should have more time to divest the app, following the initial ban deadline, but also that TikTok remains a national security concern.

WHERE HAS TIKTOK BEEN BANNED?

The United States, Britain and several European Union bodies have already imposed bans on government devices, as has Taiwan, but other countries have gone further.

In November, Canada ordered TikTok's business in the country be dissolved, citing national security concerns, but did not block users' access to the app.

Nepal, Iran, Afghanistan, Senegal and Somalia have banned TikTok, while Albania has a year-long ban on the app until the end of 2025.

India banned TikTok in 2020. Pakistan has issued four temporary bans, with the most recent ending in November 2022.

TikTok is unavailable in China, where citizens use its Chinese equivalent Douyin. While the two apps work similarly, content is not shared between them, and Douyin remains under tight censorship. (Reporting by Adam Smith and Rina Chandran; Editing by Jon Hemming. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. Visit https://www.context.news)