United States President Donald Trump says he's found a buyer for social media platform TikTok, telling Fox News that "a group of very wealthy people" are ready to acquire the beleaguered video-sharing platform.
The announcement comes as the app faces a September 17 deadline to either be sold or face a ban under U.S. law.
Speaking on Fox' program Sunday Morning Futures, Trump teased he would reveal the buyers' identities "in about two weeks", suggesting the deal would likely require approval from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"I think I'll need probably China's approval. I think President Xi will probably do it," Trump said.
Trump's remarks add another twist to TikTok's prolonged regulatory nightmare, which has seen the platform repeatedly pulled back from the brink of being banned in America.
Congress said TikTok is a ‘national security threat’, because its parent company ByteDance is controlled by the Chinese government and can reportedly harvest vast amounts of personal information from American users.
The story so far…
The TikTok saga began in earnest when Congress passed legislation in April 2024 forcing the platform's sale, citing fears that ByteDance could hand over U.S. user data to Beijing.
The law originally required divestment by 19 January 2025, but Trump has extended the deadline three times through presidential executive orders.
Meanwhile national security experts identified multiple threat vectors beyond simple data collection.
The potential for extensive audiovisual data collection to facilitate advanced deepfake creation is a compelling reason to scrutinise foreign-controlled apps like TikTok, according to RAND Corporation analysis.
As time passes, public support for a ban has waned.
Pew Research found that support for a TikTok ban now stands at 34% among U.S. adults, down from 50% in March 2023, while the share of Americans who perceive TikTok as a national security threat has also dipped from 59% in 2023 to 49% today.
