Trump Hands TikTok Sale to VP Vance

US President Donald Trump turned to Vice President JD Vance and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz to oversee the potential sale of TikTok to a US entity. Vance is now in charge of finding a deal to save the social media site from a ban while Waltz and the National Security Council are tasked with the national security aspect of any potential transaction.

After the platform briefly stopped working in January, Trump delayed a proposed ban by 75 days by issuing an executive order upon resuming office. TikTok parent company ByteDance has until April to find a US buyer. TikTok unsuccessfully appealed US legislation passed in 2024 to ban the service unless a local buyer was found after former President Joe Biden and members of both political parties expressed concern that it posed a national security risk.

Microsoft, Oracle, and Perplexity AI have expressed an interest in acquiring US social media site assets. Billionaire Frank McCourt was in Washington D.C. recently seeking support from Republicans for his bid to buy TikTok. Trump signed an executive order on 3 February to create a sovereign wealth fund that could potentially buy TikTok, but financing details were unavailable. Trump also floated the idea that Chinese firms might be able to retain an interest in TikTok but some members of his Republican party are still advocating for a complete break.