Video streaming website Rumble just made a shocking offer to TikTok, the communist Chinese government-tied social media app currently facing threats of being banned from the United States.
Rumble CEO Chris Pavloski offered to purchase TikTok if it agreed to separate from its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, as demanded by American lawmakers. Pavloski extended the offer in a Tuesday letter addressed to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew: “Rumble is ready to join a consortium with other parties seeking to acquire and operate TikTok in the United States.”
Pavloski added in the letter: “Rumble’s offer to serve as a partner to a consortium to acquire and operate TikTok is subject to the negotiation of a definitive agreement.”
An offer for TikTok from our CEO @chrispavlovski pic.twitter.com/lIeZ6IXANU
— Rumble 🏴☠️ (@rumblevideo) March 12, 2024
The offer letter comes as TikTok faces a potential ban. Just last week, President Joe Biden voiced support for proposed legislation authorizing him to block the Chinese-owned social media app from operating in the U.S.
The bill — authored by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) — will likely head to the House floor as soon as Wednesday after passing a vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The lawmakers cited national security concerns and China’s access to Americans’ data as the primary reasons the law is needed. TikTok has (unsuccessfully) attempted to appease concerns by pledging to store its data in the U.S.
Alluding to the lawmakers’ concerns, the Rumble CEO wrote that in the event of a sale, Rumble would store TikTok’s data in the U.S. “All data on the Rumble Cloud is stored safely and securely at sites inside of the United States on Rumble’s own neutral and independent infrastructure,” Pavloski concluded.
Backing Rumble’s offer to TikTok, MRC President Brent Bozell said on Twitter: “Rumble is one of the few pro-free social media companies. They would make a much better owner of TikTok than the Chi-Coms."
Beyond that, Bozell issued a video statement on Tuesday emphasizing the urgency for Congress to act against TikTok. “It is absolutely correct and necessary for TikTok to divest itself of any control from the communist Chinese government in China if it wants to do business in the United States,” said Bozell.
He added, “I support this bill. I support reining in TikTok. I support stopping the communist Chinese from influencing the United States subversively.”
TikTok must divest itself from China if it wants to do business in the United States.
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) March 12, 2024
We at the MRC have been consistent from the beginning. TikTok is a national security threat. @BrentBozell pic.twitter.com/FfSh1futU3
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