The sharks smell blood in the water, and they’re circling TikTok.
Wealthy right-wingers in the U.S. are looking to sink their teeth into the app after Wednesday’s House vote in favor of banning the social media platform unless it’s divested from its China-based parent company, ByteDance.
To be clear, TikTok isn’t up for sale. The legislation faces an uncertain future in the Senate and, even if the bill is signed into law, there’s no guarantee that ByteDance would sell. And even if the company did, any ban would be likely to face a legal challenge.
But deep-pocketed American executives seem to think it’s feeding time, regardless. And they’re angling for their shot at what is arguably one of the world’s most powerful mind control tools.
Great.
The current list of hopefuls is a who’s who of wealthy conservatives.
To put it plainly: The idea that any of these people might control a massive social media company is frightening.
Steven Mnuchin, the scandal-plagued treasury secretary from the Trump administration, announced Thursday that he’s forming an investor group to try to acquire TikTok. (I’ll note here that Mnuchin’s Liberty Strategic Capital reportedly has received $1 billion from Saudi Arabia’s government.) Kevin O’Leary, the Trump-loving conservative investor known for appearing on “Shark Tank,” is interested, too. And controversial former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, a right-wing megadonor, has reportedly discussed putting in a bid as well.
To put it plainly: The idea that any of these people might control a massive social media company is frightening.
To be clear: I’m a staunch critic of TikTok and all social media platforms. I’ve written for years about how they deploy algorithms to addict users and capitalize on conflict. And I think TikTok — like Instagram and X — has become a breeding ground for propaganda and misinformation (spread, at times, by leftists and right-wingers alike).
Consequently, I think there are compelling arguments for why TikTok ought to be sold to an American entity. But looking at the early list of potential buyers, I wouldn’t feel any more comfortable with them having access to my data than I do about the current setup.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.