@mike the only thing that would stop this is China not wanting him to buy it, and I am not convinced they would want him to have it. I feel pretty confident they would never trust him enough to act on their behalf even indirectly. They are far smarter and shrewder than Putin.
Does the world need another vector of mainly Russian influence? Syria has fallen.
China has its own calculations. They may just let TicTok be “banned” and continue BAU. I think that is the most likely outcome.