With just 10 days left before the U.S. TikTok ban takes effect, businessman Frank McCourt’s internet advocacy group, Project Liberty, announced that it has submitted a proposal to purchase the social media platform from China’s ByteDance.
Project Liberty, along with its partners under the banner “The People’s Bid for TikTok,” aims to restructure the app on an American-owned platform, emphasizing user digital safety, according to a statement on Thursday (January 9).
“We’ve put forward a proposal to ByteDance to realize Project Liberty’s vision for a reimagined TikTok – one built on an American-made tech stack that puts people first,” McCourt, Project Liberty’s founder, said in the statement. “By keeping the platform alive without relying on the current TikTok algorithm and avoiding a ban, millions of Americans can continue to enjoy the platform.”
TikTok Ban-Or-Sale Case
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Friday regarding the fate of TikTok, marking the latest chapter in the ongoing debate over whether to ban the hugely popular social media app in the U.S. The case will require the justices to balance national security concerns with freedom of speech rights.
TikTok and its parent company, China-based ByteDance, requested the Supreme Court’s review after a lower court upheld a law to ban the app in the U.S. The ban is set to take effect on January 19 unless ByteDance sells TikTok’s assets to a non-Chinese company. While ByteDance has the option to divest, it argued in a legal filing that such a sale is “simply not possible—commercially, technologically, or legally.”
Oral arguments are expected to last two hours, with each side given time to present its case. The court has indicated that both sides should be prepared to discuss whether the proposed ban violates the First Amendment.
Divided Debate
TikTok boasts 170 million users in the U.S., nearly half of the country’s population, and the potential ban has united unlikely allies.
Supporters of the ban, including a bipartisan group of lawmakers, argue that TikTok could be influenced by the Chinese Communist Party, raising national security concerns.
Opponents, including influencers, civil liberties groups, and even Donald Trump—who initially proposed the ban nearly five years ago—contend that blocking the app would violate the free speech rights of millions of Americans.
