Former Minister of Finance Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that it would form an investor group to buy TikTok after the House passed a bill that would ban the popular video app in the US if its China-based owner does not sell its stake.
During an interview on CNBC's “Squawk Box,” Mnuchin, who served under President Donald Trump, said he had spoken to “a bunch of people” about forming an investor group to buy the popular social media company. He did not elaborate on who might be on the team or on TikTok's potential valuation.
“This should be owned by American businesses,” Mnuchin said. “There's no way the Chinese would ever let an American company own something like this in China.”
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The House bill, which passed by a vote of 352-65, now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear. Lawmakers in the Senate said the measure would undergo a thorough review. If it passes the Senate, President Joe Biden he said he would sign it.
House lawmakers acted over concerns that TikTok's current ownership structure poses a threat to national security. Lawmakers from both parties and administration officials have raised concerns that TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, could be forced by Chinese authorities to hand over data about American users, spread pro-Beijing propaganda or suppress topics it does not favor. the Chinese government.
TikTok, for its part, has long denied that it could be used as a tool of Chinese authorities. The company insists it has never shared US user data with the Chinese government and won't do so if asked. To date, the US government has also provided no evidence that TikTok shared such information with authorities in China.
The White House had no immediate reaction Thursday to Mnuchin's possible TikTok bid.
“We're still focused on continuing to work, providing some technical support and assistance to Congress as this bill, which just passed the House, moves to the Senate,” the White House national security spokesman said. John Kirby he said when asked if the Mnuchin joint venture could assuage the administration's national security concerns about TikTok.
“There is a legislative process underway for this. We obviously want to see the Senate take it up quickly, and we're focused on making sure that we provide them with the context and the information that we think is important so that this bill can actually do and address the national security concerns that we have with Respect to TikTok.”
The race for the platform comes as US-China relations have turned into a strategic competition, especially in areas such as advanced technology and data security, which are seen as essential to each country's economic strength and national security.
If passed and signed into law, the House bill would give ByteDance 180 days to sell the platform to a buyer that satisfies the US government. It would also require the company to give up control over the TikTok algorithm that feeds videos based on their preferences.
In addition to Mnuchin, a few other investors, including the “Shark Tank” star. Kevin O'Leary, have expressed interest in buying TikTok's US business. But experts said it could be difficult for ByteDance to sell the platform to a buyer who could afford it in a few months.
Big tech companies are in the best position to make such a purchase, but they will likely face intense scrutiny from antitrust regulators, which Mnuchin emphasized.
“I don't think this should be controlled by any of the big US tech companies. I think there might be antitrust issues in that,” he said during the interview. “This should be something independent so we have a real competitor. And users love it, so it shouldn't be shut down.”
He also said the app should be rebuilt in the US with new technology.
In many ways, social media companies have become battlegrounds for partisan disputes over how to control misinformation while protecting free speech. Mnuchin's bid to buy TikTok comes as Trump and his allies have long complained about what they see as social media's silencing of conservative voices.
Trump himself has voiced his opposition to the House bill, saying a ban on TikTok would help his rival, Facebook, which he continues to criticize for losing the 2020 election. Some other Republicans who oppose the bill they say the US should just inform Americans of security concerns with TikTok, but let them decide if they want to use the platform.
Meanwhile, some Democrats have expressed concern about singling out a company when other social media platforms also collect vast amounts of data about users. Opponents of the bill also say it would disrupt the lives of content creators who rely on the platform for income and violate the First Amendment, which protects free speech.
This isn't the first time there's been a sale on TikTok.
When Mnuchin was Treasury secretary, the Trump administration brokered a deal in 2020 in which US companies Oracle and Walmart would take a large stake in TikTok for national security reasons.
The deal would also make Oracle responsible for hosting all TikTok user data in the US and securing computer systems to ensure national security requirements are met. Microsoft also made a failed bid for TikTok that its CEO, Satya Nadellawhich he later described as the “weirdest thing” he had ever worked on.
Rather than congressional action, the 2020 regulation was in response to a series of Trump executive actions targeting TikTok.
But the sale never took place for various reasons. Trump's executive orders were brought to court as the 2020 presidential election neared. China also imposed tighter export controls on its technology providers.
