America ‘s most prominent social network is about to likely look a whole lot different. As Bazaar Daily reported earlier this week, details of the deal between the Chinese, ByteDance, and the U.S government have begun to emerge. In the deal which at this point has a number of players and faces would see the U.S version of TikTok lease its algorithm to a group of American based billionaire investors.
The Lowdown
A new day new details. The anticipated (and questionably hostile) American takeover of US based TikTok operations is here. In the ‘deal’, the algorithm in which powers TikTok ‘s infrastructure would be leased to a series of investors — and yes they are all billionaire cronies of Donald Trump. They include: Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch (Fox News), and, the Ellisons of Oracle (the cloud computer company.)
The Players
Based on what we know so far, the Murdoch ‘s are likely to take the helm at the group of new investors. They include Lachlan Murdoch, 54, and his father Rupert Murdoch, 94,. CNN reported on Tuesday that the Murdoch ‘s probably wouldn’t be investing themselves but rather Fox’s parent company would do the bidding. The Murdoch ‘s are best arguably known for Fox News the outlet widely known for misinformation in the United States and of which was previously sued by Dominion Voting Systems for defamation.
The Ellisons
Larry Ellison who briefly unseated Elon Musk as the world’s richest person earlier this year along with his son are expected to also have part in the deal. Larry Ellison is the co-founder of Oracle one of the world’s biggest cloud computing and related companies. His company is worth upwards of $900B.The Ellison ‘s through the younger else David and his entertainment company also own the likes of: Paramount which owns CBS, The Food Network, BET, Nickelodeon, and several others.
The problem
Under current FCC rules a merge that includes any of the four big networks is a non-starter. Therefore for such a deal to go through would likely require some form of an FCC rule change.
THE LEASE
According to the deal, TikTok ‘s famous algorithm would be leased to the American investment group. Along with the lease the group would have control over the app’s security in the United States which was a point of contention that soft-launched the law requiring TikTok ‘s sale to begin with. The algorithm is being leased because otherwise TikTok would not be permitted to operate outside of the United States due to content restrictions and other.
What users should know
The terms of this deal would place American TikTok firmly in the control of Donald Trump and his cronies. Therefore TikTok users should as an exercise of caution download their profiles and data as new content restrictions and other may soon follow the execution of such a deal. Given Donald Trump ‘s affinity for suing people he doesn’t like or those that go against him creators should be weary of posting any content on TikTok following the sale that could undermine the government. You should always protest and other and stand up for free speech but do so safely. This administration may disappear you.