WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration’s decision on an American buyer for the short-video social media site TikTok will come before a weekend deadline, Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday. Bidders for TikTok are piling up as Saturday’s deadline approaches for TikTok to secure non-Chinese ownership under threat of being banned from the United States. […]
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Trump TikTok decision to come before deadline, US vice president says
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration’s decision on an American buyer for the short-video social media site TikTok will come before a weekend deadline, Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday.
Bidders for TikTok are piling up as Saturday’s deadline approaches for TikTok to secure non-Chinese ownership under threat of being banned from the United States.
“It’ll come out before the deadline,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News. “I think that we’re in a good place. We’re going to keep on working at it.
“We’ve got a couple days to continue working on it, to finalize some things and, of course, we’re going to let the president announce whatever we ultimately decide,” he told “Fox & Friends.”
U.S. officials have raised security concerns over the app’s ties to China, which TikTok and owner ByteDance have denied. Trump administration officials met on Wednesday to discuss the various options for TikTok.
Amazon and, separately, a consortium led by OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely are the latest to throw their hats into the ring for TikTok.
Any announcement on a deal will come from Trump himself, Vance and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“The president hopes to get a deal done. He has said he reserves the right for an extension if necessary, Leavitt said in an interview with NewsNation.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Andrea Shalal, Doina Chiacu; Editing by Alison Williams and Nick Zieminski)