One important component calls into question the feasibility of the new plan.
Former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is hatching ambitious plans to acquire TikTok, offering to rebuild the app from scratch.
Mnuchin, who served in the Trump administration, is appealing to wealthy investors to get around two major obstacles: the high cost of the platform, estimated at more than $100 billion, and the ban of the Chinese government on the export of recommendation algorithms, which are the "secret ingredient" of TikTok.
Steven Mnuchin suggests purchasing an app without the code subject to export restrictions, which will require a complete redesign of the service. Such a measure, according to Mnuchin, can allow you to purchase TikTok at a reduced price.
However, experts doubt the viability of the plan, pointing out the difficulty of reproducing TikTok's unique algorithm, which attracts users with its unexpected recommendations. The app's competitors-Meta* and Google - have been trying to replicate this experience in their Instagram and YouTube apps for a long time, but without much success.
Mnuchin, who has no social media experience, claims that ditching TikTok's algorithms could be the key to gaining control of one of the world's most popular apps. However, TikTok is not for sale, and any attempt to acquire it will face serious obstacles, including legal restrictions and resistance from the Chinese government.
Mnuchin claims to have discussed the idea with a number of billionaires and big companies, including tech giant Oracle and former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. However, the challenge facing Mnuchin and his team is to recreate TikTok's complex infrastructure, which provides interaction for more than 170 million users. accounts in the United States-it seems almost impossible.
In 2020, Mnuchin led the Trump administration's attempt to force TikTok to be sold to U.S. companies including Microsoft, Oracle, and Walmart. Now, with experience in negotiating with ByteDance (TikTok's parent company), Mnuchin is once again looking for ways to acquire the app, despite the skepticism of experts and the likely opposition from China.
Mnuchin's proposal raises not only technical but also political questions related to both American and Chinese regulations and interests. China, which updated its export control list in 2020 to ban the transfer of personalized recommendation software, is unlikely to approve the forced sale, making Mnuchin's plan even more controversial.
In early March, a group of congressmen introduced a bill that aims to force the Chinese technology giant ByteDance (owner of TikTok) to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese owner within 6 months, otherwise the application's activity in the United States will be discontinued.
In response, the Chinese authorities criticized Washington for putting pressure on TikTok. The Chinese government made it clear to ByteDance from Beijing that it would prefer to ban the app in the United States rather than sell its American business. In parallel, it became known that TikTok is preparing a lawsuit against the United States as part of the fight for the freedom of the application.
Former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is hatching ambitious plans to acquire TikTok, offering to rebuild the app from scratch.
Mnuchin, who served in the Trump administration, is appealing to wealthy investors to get around two major obstacles: the high cost of the platform, estimated at more than $100 billion, and the ban of the Chinese government on the export of recommendation algorithms, which are the "secret ingredient" of TikTok.
Steven Mnuchin suggests purchasing an app without the code subject to export restrictions, which will require a complete redesign of the service. Such a measure, according to Mnuchin, can allow you to purchase TikTok at a reduced price.
However, experts doubt the viability of the plan, pointing out the difficulty of reproducing TikTok's unique algorithm, which attracts users with its unexpected recommendations. The app's competitors-Meta* and Google - have been trying to replicate this experience in their Instagram and YouTube apps for a long time, but without much success.
Mnuchin, who has no social media experience, claims that ditching TikTok's algorithms could be the key to gaining control of one of the world's most popular apps. However, TikTok is not for sale, and any attempt to acquire it will face serious obstacles, including legal restrictions and resistance from the Chinese government.
Mnuchin claims to have discussed the idea with a number of billionaires and big companies, including tech giant Oracle and former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. However, the challenge facing Mnuchin and his team is to recreate TikTok's complex infrastructure, which provides interaction for more than 170 million users. accounts in the United States-it seems almost impossible.
In 2020, Mnuchin led the Trump administration's attempt to force TikTok to be sold to U.S. companies including Microsoft, Oracle, and Walmart. Now, with experience in negotiating with ByteDance (TikTok's parent company), Mnuchin is once again looking for ways to acquire the app, despite the skepticism of experts and the likely opposition from China.
Mnuchin's proposal raises not only technical but also political questions related to both American and Chinese regulations and interests. China, which updated its export control list in 2020 to ban the transfer of personalized recommendation software, is unlikely to approve the forced sale, making Mnuchin's plan even more controversial.
In early March, a group of congressmen introduced a bill that aims to force the Chinese technology giant ByteDance (owner of TikTok) to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese owner within 6 months, otherwise the application's activity in the United States will be discontinued.
In response, the Chinese authorities criticized Washington for putting pressure on TikTok. The Chinese government made it clear to ByteDance from Beijing that it would prefer to ban the app in the United States rather than sell its American business. In parallel, it became known that TikTok is preparing a lawsuit against the United States as part of the fight for the freedom of the application.
