Key facts
- Axel Springer would welcome a European solution for TikTok.
- CEO Mathias Doepfner pitched an idea to buy TikTok's European operations.
- Doepfner has criticized TikTok for amplifying extremist content.
Publishing group Axel Springer would welcome any European initiative to separate TikTok from its Chinese owners, a spokesperson for the German company said on Thursday. The comment came in response to a Financial Times report that Springer's CEO and co-owner Mathias Doepfner had pitched an idea during a lunch with the US Ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, in which his company could be part of a deal to buy TikTok's European operations. Doepfner has previously criticized TikTok, calling it 'one of the most dangerous propaganda machines for amplifying extremist content' and advocating for Europe to follow the US example of forcing a sale to non-Chinese owners.