ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is required to sell the app to a U.S.-based buyer or face a nationwide ban.

Potential buyers for TikTok US include MrBeast, Kevin O'Leary, Frank McCourt's Project Liberty and Perplexity AI, who bid a merger instead of a sale,

TikTok is an AI app. Not an “ask a bot to do your homework” kind of AI app, but an AI app all the same: Its algorithm processes and acts upon huge amounts of data to keep users engaged. Without that fundamental, freakishly well-tuned technology, TikTok wouldn’t really be anything at all—just another video or shopping platform.

Even if temporary, the unprecedented shutdown of TikTok will have an impact on U.S.-China relations, domestic politics, the social-media marketplace and millions of Americans who depend on the app.

Perplexity AI, a US-based search engine startup, proposes a merger with TikTok US, involving ByteDance's existing investors retaining equity. The prop

Notably, RedNote (Xiaohongshu) is still available for download from the U.S. app store, despite being a Chinese-owned platform subject to China's data privacy and censorship laws. In the lead-up to TikTok's banning, many users have flocked to the video-forward platform as a potential alternative.

U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI submitted a bid on Saturday to TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance for Perplexity to merge with TikTok U.S., a source familiar with the company's plans told Reuters.

The search engine platform Perplexity AI submitted a bid to merge with TikTok on Saturday, a source familiar told The Hill. The move follows a Friday Supreme Court ruling that upheld the decision

TikTok said Sunday it was restoring service to users in the United States after the popular video-sharing platform went dark in response to a federal ban that President-elect Donald Trump said he would try to pause by executive order on his first day in office.

TikTok resumes services in the U.S. as President-elect Donald Trump pledges to delay a federal ban on the platform.

With Meta embracing community notes and YouTube resisting fact-checks, social platforms are pivoting towards user-driven truth verification.