Is time running out for TikTok?
The popular social media platform is less than a week away from a January 19 deadline imposed by the U.S. government for ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, to either sell off its American assets or face a ban in America in the name of national security.
However, billionaire Frank McCourt's organization Project Liberty has confirmed that they've made a formal offer to ByteDance to purchase all of TikTok's American assets.
McCourt is the former owner of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers.
While Project Liberty declined to reveal just how much they had bid, they have previously stated that they had verbal commitments from a group of investors totaling $20 billion to bid for the video-streaming service.
TikTok has said on multiple occasions that it is not a security threat to American consumers and have alleged in court that the proposed ban violates the First Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case from both TikTok and the federal government on Friday regarding the constitutionality of the upcoming ban, which incoming President Donald Trump has said he does not support.
Trump even publicly asked for the courts to pass in injunction keeping the ban from taking effect on January 19 to allow his administration "the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case."
TikTok has not publicly commented on Project Liberty's bid.
As for the organization, it was founded by McCourt in 2021 and states its goal as decentralizing the internet.
"The internet is broken and it's urgent that we fix it," in a statement released by McCourt on the Project Liberty website. "The institutions and ideals we cherish most are being destroyed for the use of free apps that steal our personal data and digital identities."
