Perplexity AI Offers TikTok Acquisition

Perplexity plans to make TikTok's algorithm open-source. (photo: x t @martyswant)

JAKARTA - TikTok is still facing the threat of bans in the United States, and various companies and content creators are trying to prevent this from happening. A number of parties are trying to buy parts of TikTok operating in the US so that user data remains in the country.

Now, the AI Perplexity company is the latest entity to try to acquire the video sharing platform from China.

Previously, there were many rumors and speculation about who would buy TikTok. Rumors emerged that Elon Musk was interested in offering, even popular content creator Mr. Beast is rumored to have raised billions of dollars to buy it.

However, until now, the owner of TikTok, ByteDance, seems reluctant to release its holdings. Meanwhile, time continues towards a possible permanent ban on TikTok in the United States.

Perplexity is a San Francisco-based AI company known for developing artificial intelligence-powered search engines. Its technology is considered superior to its competitors, which benefit the company, but also has the potential to threaten the businesses of millions of other companies.

Now, Perplexity is proposing an offer to acquire TikTok's operational share in the United States by raising USD 18 billion (IDR 297 trillion). Although this amount is very large for most people, some analysts think the figure is still far from sufficient to buy a business like TikTok, which is said to have a total value of USD 300 billion (IDR 4,950 trillion).

If successful in acquiring TikTok, Perplexity plans to make TikTok's algorithm open-source. This move is quite ambitious considering that TikTok's search algorithm and recommendations are one of the main elements in the debate over this platform.

Perplexity also stated that TikTok's new infrastructure will be developed and managed at data centers located in the United States, with full scrutiny from local authorities. This is intended to ensure compliance with domestic privacy and regulatory standards, which are expected to ease the concerns of politicians.

Not only that, Perplexity emphasized that the entire community will benefit when the content flow is free from foreign government manipulation and global monopoly.

This could be a step towards a more free and transparent TikTok platform. However, until now, it remains uncertain whether TikTok will actually be banned in the US or will be taken over by Perplexity. If this acquisition occurs, TikTok could potentially experience major changes in the future.