Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian Joins Bid to Buy TikTok

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has joined a bid to buy TikTok — as the popular video app faces a divest-or-ban law because of national security concerns in the United States.

On Monday, billionaire Frank McCourt announced that Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and a venture capitalist, has joined his bid to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations.

McCourt tells Reuters that Ohanian will help promote the “Project Liberty” bid to buy the U.S. assets of TikTok, which he calls “The People’s Bid,” because of plans to run the app on technology that lets users control how their data will be used and shared.

In January, Project Liberty submitted an official proposal to acquire the social media app, detailing plans to let American users control how their data is used and stored. Ohanian will join the bid to buy TikTok as a strategic adviser specializing in social media.

“He has that broad portfolio of experience… of where social media was and, I think, a keen understanding of where it’s evolving,” McCourt tells Reuters. “Where he can help mostly is validating but also socializing what we’re doing.”

Ohanian co-founded Reddit with his University of Virginia roommate. He sold the platform to Condé Nast in 2006 but returned in 2014 as executive chair to oversee its revival. The internet pioneer says he is excited to work on the bid to buy TikTok and give Americans more control over their data.

American social media users briefly had no access to TikTok after a law banning it on national security grounds came into effect on January 19.

However, TikTok resumed services hours later and restored access to its 170 million users in the U.S. after Trump issued an executive order to delay the app’s ban. The executive order delayed TikTok’s ban for 75 days, giving the app more time to find a U.S. buyer.

Microsoft was reportedly in talks with TikTok to buy the app, according to President Trump. There were also rumors that Chinese officials were weighing up selling the app to Elon Musk, but the X owner denied these claims.

But it is still unclear whether ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based owner, would be willing to sell the platform, even if the deal were facilitated by Trump.

Image credits: Header and center photos licensed via Depositphotos.