Donald Trump has given TikTok 75 days to convince US officials it doesn’t threaten national security – most likely by finding a new, US owner for its American operation.
He signed the executive order within hours of entering the White House and told reporters: “I tell you what. Every rich person has called me about TikTok.”
The wildly popular social media platform briefly went offline in the US on Sunday ahead of a ban, but hours later, it came back online with a message thanking the president.
“We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States,” it said in a statement.
TikTok is owned by Chinese company Bytedance, and US politicians are worried sensitive data about Americans could be given to the Chinese government, which TikTok has repeatedly denied.
So who could buy the all-singing, all-dancing short video platform, which is valued at around $100bn (£82bn) if it is sold with its algorithm?
Image: Jimmy Donaldson, more popularly known as MrBeast. Pic: AP
MrBeast
Youtuber MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, posted on 14 January: “Okay fine, I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.”
People took him seriously; he soon posted again saying several billionaires had contacted him to try and make the bid a reality.
He posted more updates from meeting rooms where he said he had been discussing the bid with “a bunch of billionaires”.
After Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Youtuber posted a video to TikTok saying he was on a private jet “about to put in my official offer for this platform”.
“I might become you guys’ new CEO, I’m super excited,” he said.
Image: Elon Musk. Pic: Reuters
Elon Musk
The tech billionaire Elon Musk hasn’t directly commented on rumours he could buy TikTok.
However, Bloomberg News reported that officials in Beijing were considering whether to allow a possible sale to the X owner.
Although TikTok denied the rumours, saying “We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction”, Mr Musk has a lot of business dealings with China and may be a favourable owner if ByteDance is forced to sell.
With Musk running President Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, he would be well placed to help Chinese relations with the new Trump administration.
Owning the US TikTok operation could also give him plenty of new data on which to train xAI.
Image: Kevin O’Leary. File pic: AP
Shark Tank investor
Kevin O’Leary, a celebrity investor on Shark Tank (America’s version of Dragon’s Den) put in a bid to buy the platform as part of a group calling themselves The People’s Bid for TikTok.
The group, also backed by World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners Lee, offered to buy the platform without its algorithm.
They then planned to rebuild the back end of the app using American-owned technology,
Many said it would be tricky to maintain the app that way, given the Chinese-made algorithm is what makes it so popular.
Image: Perplexity co-founder and chief executive Aravind Srinivas. File pic: AP
Perplexity AI
A US search engine startup, Perplexity AI, reportedly offered to merge with TikTok US on Saturday.
Under that bid, most of ByteDance’s investors would retain their equity stakes and the partnership would give more video to Perplexity to use in their model.
Image: Donald Trump on inauguration day. Pic: Reuters
The US government?
When TikTok came back online on Sunday, President Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.”
It’s unclear how this would work and Mr Trump hasn’t offered any more details since taking office.
When the ban was being discussed in Congress back in March 2024, there were other businesspeople keen to make an offer too.
Those included the former chief executive of games company Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Image: Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:46
Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
4:28
Who is being targeted in Trump’s immigration raids?
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
Follow The World
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Image: Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:46
Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”