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“I’m officially now one of the people trying to buy TikTok US —
and bring it on-chain,” Ohanian said in a series of posts made
Tuesday on X, referencing a decentralized, blockchain-based
platform that Project Liberty says it will leverage to provide
users more control over their online data.
If successful in its bid, Project Liberty said the technology
“will serve as the backbone of the redesigned TikTok, ensuring
that privacy, security, and digital independence are no longer
optional but foundational.” When asked by an X user on Monday
what he would call TikTok if he purchased it, Ohanian said:
“TikTok: Freedom Edition.”
Under a federal bill passed with bipartisan support and signed
into law by former President Joe Biden last year, TikTok was
required to cut ties with its China-based parent company,
ByteDance, or face a ban by Jan. 19.
In one of his first executive orders signed in January,
President Donald Trump extended the deadline for TikTok to find
new ownership until early April.
McCourt’s consortium — which includes Shark Tank” star Kevin
O’Leary — has already offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash for
the U.S. platform. Some analysts estimate TikTok could be worth
much more than that even without its coveted algorithm, which
McCourt has said he’s not interested in.
Trump said in January that Microsoft is among the U.S. companies
looking to take control of TikTok. Others eyeing TikTok include
the artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI, which has
proposed to merge its business with TikTok's U.S. platform and
give the U.S. government a stake in the new entity. There’s also
Jesse Tinsley, the founder of the payroll firm Employer.com.
Tinsley has said a consortium he put together — which includes
the CEO of video game platform Roblox — is offering ByteDance
more than $30 billion for TikTok.
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