The billionaire - who is the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers - has declared he is fully prepared to step in and purchase the company with his consortium if China-based owner ByteDance decides to sell it off following a ruling in the US courts that could lead to the app being banned in the States if a change of ownership isn't made by January 19.

Frank told Wired.com: "All of this suddenly became very real, didn't it? Now, there's a January 19 date. Now, we don't know what ByteDance is going to decide to do.

"We know that they said they're going to appeal. That's out of our control. But as far as shutting it down or selling, that's also going to be up to them, and we just want to make sure they know that there's a viable buyer interested in buying US TikTok without the algorithm."

He went on to add: "We're a viable buyer. We meet the terms. So I think the most powerful argument we have is that they can comply with US law, and they could get value for their assets.

"We think it would be a sensible way for everybody to resolve this on an upbeat note and make it a win-win. China and ByteDance get some value for the US platform; the US citizens are protected; Congress is happy and the president is happy.

"And most importantly, TikTok users and influencers are happy because the platform stays up and running."

He aded that the only changes he would plan to make if a deal did go through would be to protect the data and the privacy of American citizens.

Frank explained: "What we're proposing is there'll be an alternative where [users] are not surveilled, the data isn't scraped, and they permit the use of their data. Individuals get value for it, and agency is returned to individuals.

"And very importantly, they own their relationships. Right now, the TikTok user base - the influencers and creators - do not own the communities they create."