Guess who Trump has tapped to oversee TikTok’s potential sale?
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President Donald Trump has tapped Vice President JD Vance to lead the charge on the high-stakes sale of TikTok ahead of a looming April deadline that would see the app permanently shuttered in the United States. According to Punchbowl News, which cited multiple sources on Capitol Hill and in the White House, Vance, along with national security adviser Michael Waltz, will be tasked with handling the video platform’s sale to a possible American entity amid concerns regarding the amount of data collection the Chinese-owned company performs. The duo will also oversee the national security aspects of a possible transaction. JD Vance and Trump It makes some sense that Trump would give Vance the role, given that he’s a former venture capitalist and was previously behind investments for platforms such as Rumble, which emerged as an alternative to YouTube. But this won’t be an easy task, as Vance will have to navigate concerns from national security hawks from his own party, such as Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. Plus, there will be intense fallout if Vance fails, especially considering 170 million Americans use the app and could find themselves cut off. As Punchbowl News mentioned, Vance won’t start with a blank slate. Last month, Trump claimed that Microsoft was interested in buying TikTok. Co-president and DOGE chair Elon Musk could purchase it, too. Then there’s billionaire Frank McCourt and his business partner Kevin O’Leary (of “Shark Tank”), who also expressed openness to teaming up with other buyers to take over U.S. operations of TikTok. This latter pitch might gain the most steam, as McCourt is reportedly telling Republicans on Capitol Hill that he and O’Leary would fully end Chinese control of the app. McCourt has also met with Cotton already, Punchbowl News reported. Then again, earlier this week, Trump signed another one of his infamous executive orders making the Treasury and Commerce Department create a “sovereign wealth fund” for the U.S. and suggested the money acquired through the fund could buy a 50% stake in TikTok. This, he said, would allow TikTok to operate in the states, potentially with the app’s existing owners or new ones. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sits before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025 It’s important to remember how we got here. TikTok’s troubles began after Congress passed a bipartisan bill that was later signed into law by former President Joe Biden, mandating the app’s Chinese owner ByteDance sell the app to a U.S. entity or be shut down. The ban was over concerns that the Chinese government could manipulate content and gain access to sensitive user data through the app. While Trump attempted to ban the app in 2020, he later came to its defense and signed an executive order on his first day in office to pause enforcement of the law for 75 days. That grace period will soon expire, though, on April 5, and ByteDance has expressed little interest in selling. But with TikTok back online after shutting down for less than one day, the company embarked on a goodwill tour aimed at welcoming Trump ahead of his second White House stint. Not only did TikTok’s CEO, Shou Chew, attend the president’s January inauguration, but the app also sponsored a pre-inauguration bash in Trump’s honor. Now, Vance will be in charge of “quarterbacking a deal to save TikTok,” which was initially pushed by the right but enabled by Democrats. Hopefully, he’s too busy defending racists to have time to broker a sale, and any blame for TikTok’s downfall falls back on Republicans since they’re the ones who got us here. Campaign Action
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/7/2302160/-Guess-who-Trump-has-tapped-to-oversee-TikTok-s-potential-sale?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=main
President Donald Trump has tapped Vice President JD Vance to lead the charge on the high-stakes sale of TikTok ahead of a looming April deadline that would see the app permanently shuttered in the United States. According to Punchbowl News, which cited multiple sources on Capitol Hill and in the White House, Vance, along with national security adviser Michael Waltz, will be tasked with handling the video platform’s sale to a possible American entity amid concerns regarding the amount of data collection the Chinese-owned company performs. The duo will also oversee the national security aspects of a possible transaction. JD Vance and Trump It makes some sense that Trump would give Vance the role, given that he’s a former venture capitalist and was previously behind investments for platforms such as Rumble, which emerged as an alternative to YouTube. But this won’t be an easy task, as Vance will have to navigate concerns from national security hawks from his own party, such as Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. Plus, there will be intense fallout if Vance fails, especially considering 170 million Americans use the app and could find themselves cut off. As Punchbowl News mentioned, Vance won’t start with a blank slate. Last month, Trump claimed that Microsoft was interested in buying TikTok. Co-president and DOGE chair Elon Musk could purchase it, too. Then there’s billionaire Frank McCourt and his business partner Kevin O’Leary (of “Shark Tank”), who also expressed openness to teaming up with other buyers to take over U.S. operations of TikTok. This latter pitch might gain the most steam, as McCourt is reportedly telling Republicans on Capitol Hill that he and O’Leary would fully end Chinese control of the app. McCourt has also met with Cotton already, Punchbowl News reported. Then again, earlier this week, Trump signed another one of his infamous executive orders making the Treasury and Commerce Department create a “sovereign wealth fund” for the U.S. and suggested the money acquired through the fund could buy a 50% stake in TikTok. This, he said, would allow TikTok to operate in the states, potentially with the app’s existing owners or new ones. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sits before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025 It’s important to remember how we got here. TikTok’s troubles began after Congress passed a bipartisan bill that was later signed into law by former President Joe Biden, mandating the app’s Chinese owner ByteDance sell the app to a U.S. entity or be shut down. The ban was over concerns that the Chinese government could manipulate content and gain access to sensitive user data through the app. While Trump attempted to ban the app in 2020, he later came to its defense and signed an executive order on his first day in office to pause enforcement of the law for 75 days. That grace period will soon expire, though, on April 5, and ByteDance has expressed little interest in selling. But with TikTok back online after shutting down for less than one day, the company embarked on a goodwill tour aimed at welcoming Trump ahead of his second White House stint. Not only did TikTok’s CEO, Shou Chew, attend the president’s January inauguration, but the app also sponsored a pre-inauguration bash in Trump’s honor. Now, Vance will be in charge of “quarterbacking a deal to save TikTok,” which was initially pushed by the right but enabled by Democrats. Hopefully, he’s too busy defending racists to have time to broker a sale, and any blame for TikTok’s downfall falls back on Republicans since they’re the ones who got us here. Campaign Action
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/7/2302160/-Guess-who-Trump-has-tapped-to-oversee-TikTok-s-potential-sale?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=main