Amazon told the White House it was interested in selling popular social media apps by its parent company, China-based Bayte Dance, or buying Tiktok ahead of the important deadline that it must face a ban in the US, CBS News learned, according to two people familiar with the debate.
Amazon has submitted a bid for the app, The New York Times reported earlier, citing people familiar with the issue.
Both Amazon and Tiktok declined to comment on the issue.
Amazon’s bid comes after lawmakers passed the bill’s establishment last year Deadline for January 19th For a sale extended by Trump for 75 days. He set a deadline for Saturday, April 5th to force Bytedance to sell shares in the app or close in the US.
According to the New York Times, the retail giant made the offer in a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.
Amazon’s interest in Tiktok emphasizes the importance of social apps for online retailers given its ability to drive e-commerce purchases, according to retail analysts.
“Amazon is the biggest destination for searching for products, but it remains the most suitable channel for planned and specific purchases,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. “It certainly made some intrusions to become a place of consumer entertainment and discovery. It led to impulsive purchases, but this is the protection of so many Tikk and Tikk stores.
Applovin, a California-based mobile technology company, has also expressed interest in acquiring Tiktok, which someone familiar with the issue told CBS News.
in Comment to reporters Over the weekend in Air Force 1, Trump tackled the issue of selling Tiktok, saying, “There are a lot of potential buyers. There are a lot of interest in Tiktok. The decision will be my decision.”
He added, “I want to see Tiktok live on.”
The US government says Tiktok poses a threat to national security as a huge swarm of customer data, including browsing patterns, locations and biometric information, could fall into the hands of Chinese authorities.
Prior to the deadline for the initial sale, Trump, who temporarily closed Tiktok in the US earlier this year, quickly suspended the ban and services recovered.
The ban is not targeting US users of Tiktok. But protecting Americans from the foreign hostile application laws that signed the law in 2024 under former President Biden is I’ll make it illegal For app stores and web hosting services for distributing or serving Tiktok.
Jennifer Jacobs contributed to this report.
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