Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian joins bid to acquire TikTok

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has joined billionaire Frank McCourt’s bid to get TikTok arsenic a strategical adviser

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has joined billionaire Frank McCourt’s bid to get TikTok arsenic a strategical adviser.

McCourt’s net advocacy organization, Project Liberty, announced this week that the Ohanian, an capitalist joined to tennis prima Serena Williams, had joined a consortium called “The People’s Bid for TikTok”.

“I’m officially present 1 of the radical trying to bargain TikTok US — and bring it on-chain,” Ohanian said successful a bid of posts made Tuesday connected X, referencing a decentralized, blockchain-based level that Project Liberty says it volition leverage to supply users much power implicit their online data.

If palmy successful its bid, Project Liberty said the exertion “will service arsenic the backbone of the redesigned TikTok, ensuring that privacy, security, and integer independency are nary longer optional but foundational.” When asked by an X idiosyncratic connected Monday what helium would telephone TikTok if helium purchased it, Ohanian said: “TikTok: Freedom Edition.”

Under a national measure passed with bipartisan enactment and signed into instrumentality by erstwhile President Joe Biden past year, TikTok was required to chopped ties with its China-based genitor company, ByteDance, oregon look a prohibition by Jan. 19.

In 1 of his archetypal enforcement orders signed successful January, President Donald Trump extended the deadline for TikTok to find caller ownership until aboriginal April.

McCourt’s consortium — which includes Shark Tank” prima Kevin O’Leary — has already offered ByteDance $20 cardinal successful currency for the U.S. platform. Some analysts estimation TikTok could beryllium worthy overmuch much than that adjacent without its coveted algorithm, which McCourt has said he’s not funny in.

Trump said successful January that Microsoft is among the U.S. companies looking to instrumentality power of TikTok. Others eyeing TikTok see the artificial quality startup Perplexity AI, which has proposed to merge its business with TikTok's U.S. level and springiness the U.S. authorities a involvement successful the caller entity. There’s besides Jesse Tinsley, the laminitis of the payroll steadfast Employer.com. Tinsley has said a consortium helium enactment unneurotic — which includes the CEO of video crippled level Roblox — is offering ByteDance much than $30 cardinal for TikTok.