Fact Check: Are Kardashians planning to buy TikTok on January 1, 2025 to prevent US from banning the app?
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: TikTok's future in the US appears uncertain as the short-form content-creating app could potentially be banned in the country. However, the platform would still be eligible to stay up and running if ByteDance, its operative company, sells it to a non-Chinese owner.
Amid this, a claim has been circulating across social media that the Kardashians are planning to buy TikTok on January 1, 2025, to prevent the US from banning the app. But is there any truth to this? Let's find out below.
Claim: Kardashians are planning to buy TikTok on January 1, 2025
TikToker nevrcrd was one of the first to claim that the Kardashians are planning to buy TikTok on January 1, 2025.
He claimed in a video on the platform, "The Kardashians is buying the app?... The Kardashians just posted it everywhere that they’re buying TikTok so that American people can still have TikTok… The Kardashians are planning to buy it on January 1, 2025. So TikTok is no longer leaving, we’re still going to have this app."
"I’m so glad that the Kardashians are buying it, because they’re going to keep it trendy, youthful, and fun," the user added.
Another TikToker, urstepdadzdot, claimed that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter, North West, had convinced her mother to buy the platform.
He alleged, "North West wanted TikTok to stay so bad that she convinced her mom to buy TikTok. I don’t know for sure if this is real or not but I hope this s**t is true. This s**t is going to make me f**k with the Kardashians, if this s**t is true… TikTok is worth a lot of f**king money. I don’t know probably the whole family got it put together."
@urstepdadzdot The Kardashian Are Buying tiktok? #fyp #trending #tiktokban #kardashians ♬ original sound - Zdot 🥷🏽
No official announcements have been made by the Kardashian-Jenner family
The claims made on social media are false as there have been no official announcements by either the Kardashians or the Jenners about their apparent plan to buy TikTok.
The rumors appear to have been spread online by TikTokers in an attempt to gain views and popularity following the latest news regarding the video-sharing platform.
As of now, TikTok still needs to be purchased by a non-Chinese owner to continue running in the US.
TikTok asks Supreme Court to intervene in its impending nationwide ban
TikTok asked the SCOTUS on Monday, December 16, to intervene in its impending nationwide ban by blocking the law that would remove the app from millions of users, as per the Independent.
The app alleged in its filing that banning it would "shutter" one of the most popular speech platforms at a highly political moment on January 19, a day before Donald Trump is set to get sworn in as the POTUS.
TikTok wrote, "The Act will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration. This, in turn, will silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern."
The issue is a bipartisan law called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which is supposed to protect national security. The law requires ByteDance to sell the social media platform to an American company or be banned.
