The TikTok administration has denied a report that China is considering selling the platform to billionaire Elon Musk in order to avoid its blocking in the United States.
Image source: Solen Feyissa / unsplash.com
Earlier, Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, reported that “Chinese authorities are exploring the possibility of Elon Musk buying the American section of TikTok” if a law comes into force that requires ByteDance, the owner of the social network, to give up its stake in TikTok under the threat of an actual ban. applications in the USA. “We should not be expected to comment on pure fiction,” TikTok responded to Variety’s question about the veracity of this information. Musk did not respond to Bloomberg’s message.
The businessman who heads Tesla and SpaceX took private ownership of the Twitter microblogging platform in 2022 and subsequently renamed it X. One of the scenarios, which, according to Bloomberg, was discussed by the Chinese authorities, involves the transfer of the American section of TikTok under the control of the X administration; it is noted that “it is not clear whether Musk, TikTok and ByteDance have had any negotiations on the terms of a possible transaction.”
The law, which would force ByteDance to sell TikTok under threat of being blocked in the US, is set to take effect on January 19 unless the Supreme Court rules to stay it. Last Friday, January 10, the Supreme Court heard arguments as part of TikTok’s urgent appeal – the platform administration and representatives of ByteDance said that the law violates the rights of 170 million Americans guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. But the judges appeared to favor the government’s official position that TikTok poses a national security threat because it is under Chinese jurisdiction. At the same time, the Chinese authorities expressed their readiness to ban the sale of TikTok to Americans and prevent the export of technology. US President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on January 19 to suspend the law.