Today, in a move sure to endear him to a younger generation of voters, President Joe Biden signed a bill that requires ByteDance to sell its US-based interests in TikTok or see the app banned from cell phone marketplaces. While it has been described as a bill banning TikTok outright, it’s actually pretty vaguely written and probably more or less unenforceable as is, the equivalent of “okay, Boomer” in legal form.
But that hasn’t stopped the offers from rolling in, including a (probably facetious) one from Soulja Boy, who asked on Twitter, “How much yall want for TikTok?” declaring, “I’ll buy it.”
How much yall want for TikTok? I’ll buy it. @tiktok_us
— Soulja Boy (Draco) (@souljaboy) April 24, 2024
The “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” (say that five times fast) has otherwise been met with widespread criticism. From its oblique wording to its borderline hypocritical positioning — focusing on TikTok after Meta actively engaged in the promotion of phony news propaganda aimed at influencing the last election, for instance — TikTok’s user base has pointed out a number of flaws in the political strategy behind the bill. For instance, do you all remember those hilariously (terrifyingly) off-base hearings with ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo? By the way, here’s his response to all the kerfuffle:
Our CEO Shou Chew's response to the TikTok ban: pic.twitter.com/l0RAPJMobK
— TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) April 24, 2024
As for Soulja Boy buying TikTok; well, that seems about as likely as his promise to create his own social media app.