An American company has offered to buy TikTok to prevent the Chinese-owned app from a nationwide ban.
A letter from Rumble CEO Chris Pavloski surfaced on the company’s X page Tuesday, declaring his online video platform is ready to ‘acquire and operate TikTok in the US.’
Pavloski stated his case further by explaining Rumble would store data safely and securely in the US with its newly launched cloud service that advocates for ‘the free and open internet.’
The letter comes as the House of Representatives has threatened to ban TikTok if its parent company ByteDance does not sell, citing national security concerns about the Chinese government’s access to user data.
A letter from Rumble CEO Chris Pavloski surfaced on the company’s X page Tuesday, declaring his online video platform is ready to ‘acquire and operate TikTok in the US’
News of Rumble’s offer to buy and operate TikTok in the US sent the company’s stocks soaring Tuesday morning
Rumble stocks soared by more than 15 percent just moments after Pavloski’s offer surfaced.
‘In the event that ByteDance divests its ownership in TikTok, Rumble is ready to join a consortium with other parties seeking to acquire and operate TikTok inside the United States,’ Pavloski wrote.
The letter comes one day after Rumble announced the launch of the Rumble Cloud, which Pavoski said aims to combat censorship and advocate for the ‘free and open internet,’ FOX Business reported.
The CEO also said that his company values ‘freedom of expression and the First Amendment,’ which is what many TikTok users have said will be lost if TikTok is banned in the US.
Florida-based Rumble has proclaimed itself as being one of the few ‘neutral’ and ‘independent platforms, bit the company has received investments from several right-wing figures like Vivek Ramaswamy and Peter Thiel.
The letter comes as the House of Representatives has threatened to ban TikTok if its parent company ByteDance does not sell
The platform has also become home to dozens of QAnon-supporting channels. Left-leaning Media Matters for America published research last year after finding at least 27 channels that have been banned from other platforms
The platform has also become home to dozens of QAnon-supporting channels.
Left-leaning Media Matters for America published research last year after finding at least 27 channels that have been banned from other platforms.
‘We found that videos from QAnon channels that feature shows or figures who have historically and openly promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory appeared on Rumble’s leaderboard every day between February 1 and April 30 — a total of 603 times,’ according to Media Matters.
Russell Brand, Alex Jones and Andrew Tate are among notable names who were banned from other sites for their controversial views, but allowed to remain on Rumble.
Pavloski did not include a purchasing amount in the letter addressed to ByteDance CEO Shou Zi Chew.
House Representatives said on Monday that they are moving ahead with the bill that would require ByteDance to sell TikTok and leadership is set to vote on the measure for Wednesday.
If passed, ByteDance would have six months from the bills enactment to divest TikTok and other applications to avoid a nationwide ban.
Elon Musk shared his opinion on the bill in an X post Tuesday: ‘This law is not just about TikTok, it is about censorship and government control! If it were just about TikTok, it would only cite ‘foreign control’ as the issue, but it does not.’
Former President Donald Trump also voiced opposition to possible ban.
‘Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it. There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it,’ Trump said in a call-in interview with CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box.’
‘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.’
TikTok has emerged as a major issue in the 2024 presidential campaign.
The platform has about 170 million users in the U.S., most of whom skew younger – a demographic that both parties are desperately trying to court ahead of November’s general election.
Younger voters have become especially hard for campaigns to reach as they gravitate away from traditional platforms like cable television.
Biden’s 2024 campaign officially joined TikTok last month, even though he has expressed his own national security concerns over the platform, banned it on federal devices and on Friday endorsed the legislation that could lead to its ban.
