Steven Mnuchin putting together investor group to try to buy TikTok

The former US treasury secretary's comment comes just a day after the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would give the short-video app's Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest the US assets or face a ban. TikTok had called the bill a "ban" and urged senators to listen to their constituents before taking any action. "I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold, " Mnuchin told CNBC's Squawk Box on Thursday. "It's a great business and I'm going to put together a group to buy TikTok," he said.

Discussions of banning TikTok in the US have circulated for years, spurred by fears the China-based company could collect sensitive user data on American citizens – an allegation TikTok has repeatedly denied. Donald Trump attempted a ban in 2020, which ultimately did not succeed. The recent bipartisan push to force the company to divest marks the most serious challenge to the app yet, however, and now faces an uncertain vote in the senate. The House voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday in favor of a ban, with 352 members of Congress voting yes on the bill and only 65 opposed. The company has called the bill unconstitutional.

TikTok's CEO, Shou Zi Chew, said on Wednesday that the company will exercise its legal rights to prevent a ban. He warned in a video message that the bill threatened to consolidate power in the hands of other big tech platforms while risking American jobs. TikTok users have flooded Congress' phone lines to advocate against a ban. Some 170 million Americans use TikTok.