The plan faces several hurdles, including TikTok’s repeated assertions that it cannot be divested from its owner, Chinese tech firm ByteDance.
McCourt said the bid for TikTok would exclude the algorithm that determines the content that users see, in order to reduce complications for ByteDance.
The Chinese government in 2020 added content recommendation algorithms to its export control list, requiring a divestiture or sale of TikTok’s algorithm to go through its administrative licensing procedures.