Soulja Boy has offered to purchase TikTok after President Joe Biden approved a bill that could result in the social media app being banned in the United States.
The Senate passed a bill on Tuesday (April 23) which orders its owner, ByteDance, to sell the platform in the next 270 days or face being locked out of the American market over concerns the Chinese government has access to users’ data.
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Soulja, who claims to make tens of thousands of dollars a day on the app, criticized the passing of the bill on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “Smh this isn’t right. No freedom of speech. 1st amendment down the drain.
“I can’t believe yall just gon let them ban TikTok like that. And yall think it’s funny. If they do it to this app they can do it to any app or site. Not cool fr yall will see later.”
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He added: “You maybe don’t see it now but TikTok is more important than any other platform right now that’s why they’re trying to ban it trust me.”
The “Crank That” rapper continued to express concerns over his right to freedom of speech, saying: “I know it’s crazy it’s like nobody cares when TikTok is such a powerful platform I’m confused yall don’t care about yall rights?”
He then improbably claimed he would like to purchase the video-sharing app, tweeting: “How much yall want for TikTok? I’ll buy it.”
The massively popular platform is valued at up to $110 billion, though the company has valued itself at more than double that number.
In the event of a forced sale, however, the fee would likely be significantly lower but still far outside the financial capabilities of Soulja Boy, whose net worth is estimated to be around $5 million.
For their part, TikTok are opposed to the bill and have pledged to fight it in court.
In a statement, they said: “This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court. We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail. The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation.
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“This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans. As we continue to challenge this unconstitutional ban, we will continue investing and innovating to ensure TikTok remains a space where Americans of all walks of life can safely come to share their experiences, find joy, and be inspired.”
The company have repeatedly denied that TikTok and ByteDance are agents of the Chinese government.
