“Sociable” is the most recent commentary on vital social media developments and trends from industry expert Andrew Hutchinson of Social Media Today.
The clock is ticking on TikTok, with the deadline for its sale to a U.S.-based company fast approaching, which is able to see it either sold off, or booted out of America, potentially this week.
And with just days remaining, plainly Amazon has made a last-minute pitch to amass the app, as a part of its expanded online shopping vision.
As reported by The New York Times, Amazon has presented a suggestion to the Trump administration, within the hopes of taking over the app, which counts 170 million U.S. users. The view would seemingly then be that Amazon could use TikTok as a vehicle to expand its product listings, and generate more sales via the platform.
Walmart had the same idea when it joined a bid to amass the app the last time the U.S. government tried to force a TikTok sale back in 2020, with Walmart reportedly looking for to seize on its product promotion potential to drive more sales.
TikTok has significant potential on this regard, with the Chinese version of the app (Douyin) generating almost $500 million in product sales last 12 months, though Western consumers have been less considering shopping within the app. But even so, TikTok’s in-app sales are rising, and Amazon could seize on this, while also expanding its reach and influence.
Worth noting too that Amazon actually tried to create its own TikTok clone in 2022.
As such, it makes numerous sense for Amazon to make a play for the app, though straight away no less than, it doesn’t look like it’s within the race.
As per NYT:
“Various parties who’ve been involved within the talks don’t look like taking Amazon’s bid seriously. The bid got here via a suggestion letter addressed to Vice President JD Vance and Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, in keeping with an individual briefed on the matter.”
So who’s within the race?
Well, Oracle stays the lead bidder, with the corporate’s links to Trump (Trump and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison are friends), and its working relationship with TikTok (Oracle already supports TikTok’s U.S. infrastructure) seemingly best-positioning it to facilitate a deal that may please each the White House and the corporate’s Chinese ownership.
Whether the Chinese government will approve is one other questions, while there are also various intricacies throughout the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the bill regarding TikTok’s U.S. ownership, that may make any deal complex.
President Trump is reportedly meeting with top White House officials today to debate the deal. Trump has repeatedly stated that he’s confident that they are going to work out an answer before the prolonged April 4 deadline. And if not, Trump has said that he’ll look to increase the deadline once more.
Which can be legally complex, but extending the deadline in the primary place was already on shaky legal ground, so…
Essentially, we should always discover very soon whether TikTok might be banned within the U.S. this week, though that also seems unlikely.
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