U.S. president Donald Trump has said Microsoft is in talks to buy TikTok.
Reuters reported that Trump wants to see a bidding war over the app. Microsoft has declined to comment.
According to the BBC, when asked by reporters whether the Xbox maker was preparing a bid, Trump replied: “I would say yes,” before adding that there was “great interest in TikTok” from several companies.
“We’ll see what happens,” Trump continued. “We’re going to have a lot of people bidding on it. If we can save all that voice and all the jobs, and China won’t be involved, we don’t want China involved, but we’ll see what happens.”
TikTok was brought offline for its 170 million users in the U.S. just before a law requiring its Chinese owner ByteDance to either sell it on national security grounds or face a ban on January 19. The app went dark after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal following TikTok’s First Amendment challenge.
The nine justices acknowledged that data collection and analysis is a common practice in the digital age, but added: “TikTok’s scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the Government’s national security concerns.”
TikTok then came back online after assurances from Trump that the social media company wouldn’t face penalties for restoring service.
“It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship,” TikTok said at the time. “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
After taking office on January 20, Trump signed an executive order seeking to delay the enforcement of the law by 75 days. He’s in talks with a number of companies and people about a potential buyout of Tiktok, and has said he’s open to X/Twitter owner Elon Musk taking control.
In 2020, Microsoft confirmed it was in discussion to buy TikTok following scrutiny from the previous Trump administration, but the talks collapsed.
Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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