TikTok went dark for around 14 hours on Jan. 18 after the app lost an appeal to the Supreme Court that challenged Joe Biden’s divest-or-ban law. Biden signed a bill into law in 2024 requiring ByteDance to either sell TikTok’s controlling interest to a non-Chinese owner or get banned in the U.S. on Jan. 19.

Days before TikTok’s April 5 deadline to sell their U.S. operations, Jeff Bezos’ online retailer Amazon has submitted a bid to buy the ByteDance-owned app, a source told NBC News.

Jasmine Enberg of eMarketer said almost half of TikTok’s US users buy things on the app. “Amazon’s reported bid is proof of TikTok’s prowess in e-commerce and the changing nature of how consumers shop and buy,” she said.