(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – Even though the Republican Party is taking measures to ban the communist app from the country and its youth, former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin shared his thoughts about gathering investors to potentially acquire TikTok.
This controversial move would be if Congress succeeds in passing legislation that would force the app’s Chinese parent company to divest.
The House recently voted to approve a bill that compelled ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, to sell the platform due to national security concerns that surrounded China’s potential surveillance of about 170 million American TikTok users.
House Select Committee on the CCP Chairman Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.) introduced the bill, which proposed that TikTok be sold within six months to a government-approved buyer so that ByteDance no longer owns or controls the app.
Mnuchin, who served during the Trump administration, disclosed his efforts to assemble a potential buyer consortium.
“I think the legislation should pass, and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin stated on CNBC. “It’s a great business, and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok.”
He continued expressing support for the bill, “This should be owned by U.S. businesses. There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China.”
In contrast, former President Donald Trump recently opposed the TikTok divestment bill and suggested that Facebook, whom he labeled “an enemy of the people,” would fill TikTok’s void in the market if the bill passes.
Trump previously aimed to ban the app in the U.S. during his tenure in 2020 but has changed his position after a meeting with billionaire investor Jeff Yass, a 15 % stakeholder in ByteDance.
“There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok, but the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you’re going to make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media,” Trump stated during a CNBC interview.
Investors beyond Mnuchin have shown interest on TikTok. Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick reportedly indicated interest, and Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, of Shark Tank fame, offered to acquire the app and proposed a transformation into a “new American company.”
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