Recent reports assert that Chinese officials could be considering selling TikTok’s U.S. division to Elon Musk to avert a possible ban — but TikTok is speaking out against the claims as “pure fiction.”
According to reports published Monday and Tuesday by Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal respectively, Chinese officials have internally spoken about the possibility of selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Musk or a trusted non-Chinese entrepreneur.
Musk’s X social media platform could acquire TikTok in the U.S. and jointly run the two social media sites, per Bloomberg’s anonymous sources. Musk’s xAI startup could also use TikTok data to help develop AI models.
Musk has frequently made trips to China. He’s CEO of Tesla, which makes half its cars in China.
In April, Musk wrote in a post on X that “TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform.” He stated that blocking TikTok “would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression” and “it is not what America stands for.”
In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the ? platform.
Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2024
TikTok refuted talk of a potential acquisition by Musk. A TikTok spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday: “We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction.”
However, TikTok could have been kept in the dark about these discussions. According to Bloomberg, the deliberations among Chinese officials are still preliminary and may not have involved ByteDance or TikTok at this stage.
Related: ‘More Than Marketing Tools’: Some Business Owners Are Worried About the Possible TikTok Ban
A sale to Musk would allow TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban that is scheduled to take place on Sunday. The ban was brought about by legislation passed in April that forced TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the social media app by Jan. 19 or face a loss of operations in the U.S.
ByteDance has said that it prefers a shutdown of the app to an acquisition. Over the past nine months, TikTok’s case has made its way through the U.S. legal system, culminating in oral arguments heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 10 in which TikTok asked the Supreme Court to pause the ban over free speech concerns.
The Court has not yet issued a ruling or announced when it can be expected to make one.
TikTok has 170 million U.S. users and says that a ban would cost creators and small businesses $1.3 billion in the first month alone.
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