Chinese officials are considering the option of billionaire Elon Musk acquiring the American division of TikTok.
This was reported by Bloomberg, citing sources.
Beijing officials have insisted that TikTok remain under the ownership of parent company ByteDance, and the company is challenging the impending ban and has filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court. But the justices made it clear during their arguments on Jan. 10 that they are likely to uphold the law.
Senior Chinese officials have already begun discussing contingency plans for TikTok as part of a broader debate about how to work with Donald Trumpʼs administration.
One scenario being discussed by the Chinese government would see Musk’s X platform take control of TikTok US and run the business together, the sources said. With more than 170 million users in the US, TikTok could bolster X’s efforts to attract advertisers. Musk has also founded a separate artificial intelligence company, xAI, that could benefit from the vast amounts of data generated by TikTok.
Chinese officials have yet to reach a consensus on how to proceed, and their discussions are still preliminary. It is unclear how much ByteDance knows about the discussions within the Chinese government and whether TikTok and Musk are involved in them, Bloomberg writes. It is also not known whether Musk, TikTok and ByteDance have discussed the terms of any potential deal.
In a comment to Variety, ByteDance representatives called Bloombergʼs report "pure fiction".
The Chinese government holds a so-called golden share in ByteDance, which gives it influence over the company’s strategy and operations. TikTok says the control extends only to its Chinese subsidiary, Douyin Information Service Co., and has nothing to do with ByteDance’s operations outside China. But Beijing’s export rules prevent Chinese companies from selling their software algorithms, such as the one that is an integral part of TikTok. Because the Chinese government must approve a sale that includes TikTok’s valuable recommendation engine, it has a significant say in any potential deal.
TikTok ban in the US
The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill in March 2024 that could ban the social network TikTok in the US. The bill was supported by the US Senate in April, and President Joe Biden signed the bill into law that same month.
The law is set to take effect on January 19, 2025 (the day before Trumpʼs inauguration), with the possibility of a one-time 90-day delay granted by the president if the sale is completed by then.
The US lawmakers say TikTok is a national security threat because the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over data on US users. The bill would require US-based TikTok to divest itself of its Chinese owner ByteDance or face ban.
The US President-elect Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term, but reversed course during this yearʼs presidential campaign and vowed to "save" the app. He said he wanted to maintain "competition" with Mark Zuckerbergʼs Meta, which he criticized for allegedly censoring right-wing voices.
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