The founder of the OnlyFans platform Tim Stockley has proposed buying out the American segment of TikTok from the Chinese company ByteDance.
WIRED writes about this.
The bid was submitted by Zoop, a startup founded by Stockley with influencer marketing expert RJ Phillips. The deal also brought in cryptocurrency company The Hbar Foundation.
Zoop described its proposal as a “David and Goliath” standoff against the big social networks, promising to return power to content creators through fair revenue sharing.
Chinaʼs ByteDance has little time left. If it doesnʼt reach an agreement with an American buyer by April 5, TikTok will be banned in the US.
Amazon also submitted its bid this week, becoming the fifth bidder the White House is considering. Other possible deals include selling TikTok to a US investor consortium that could include Larry Ellisonʼs Oracle and investment firm Blackstone.
Another option is for American investors to buy TikTok, with ByteDance retaining ownership of the platformʼs algorithm by leasing it out. However, China has not yet expressed its willingness to sign such a deal.
TikTok ban in the US
The US House of Representatives passed a bill in March 2024 that could ban the social network TikTok in the US. The bill was supported by the US Senate in April, and the document was signed into law by former President Joe Biden that same month.
The law took effect on January 19. Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term as president, but changed his position during this yearʼs presidential campaign and promised to “save” the app.
In one of his first executive orders since taking office on January 20, US President Donald Trump postponed the ban on TikTok for 75 days. The new administration has taken the time to determine measures that will protect national security. Before his inauguration, Trump had proposed “reviving” TikTok on the condition that the social network be at least half owned by American investors.
Trump said his administration was in talks with four different groups about selling Chinese social network TikTok. He called all potential buyers “acceptable”. The US president later said he was ready to lower tariffs on China if a deal to sell TikTok could be struck.
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