Chinese officials may be weighing a bold move: selling TikTok’s US operations to billionaire Elon Musk. This comes as the platform faces the looming threat of a nationwide ban.
According to Bloomberg, senior officials in Beijing are exploring this drastic option as a potential solution to the escalating tensions surrounding TikTok’s ownership and national security concerns.
The US government has expressed ongoing apprehensions about TikTok’s ties to its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
In response, legislation passed last year mandated that ByteDance either divest TikTok’s US operations or face a complete shutdown of the platform.
With the ban set to take effect next week, the clock is ticking, and ByteDance faces mounting pressure to address these demands.
ByteDance is actively appealing the ban, set to take effect on Sunday, at the US Supreme Court.
However, during oral arguments last week, the majority of justices appeared inclined to uphold the law.
Bloomberg reports that a high-profile deal involving Elon Musk, a prominent figure aligned with former President Trump, could be appealing to the Chinese government, which is likely to have a role in determining whether TikTok is ultimately sold.
According to the report, discussions remain in the early stages, and Chinese officials have yet to reach a unified decision on the path forward.
TikTok has dismissed the report as baseless. “This is pure fiction, and we won’t dignify it with a comment,” a TikTok representative told Variety.
The response follows an earlier statement from Elon Musk in April, where he expressed his opposition to banning the app, despite its potential to benefit his own platform, X.
“From my perspective, TikTok should remain accessible in the USA, even though a ban might give X an advantage,” Musk posted on X, highlighting his stance on the issue.
TikTok, with a massive user base of approximately 170 million in the United States, remains at the center of heated debates.
On Tuesday, US YouTube sensation MrBeast humorously hinted at his interest in acquiring TikTok. “Alright, fine, I’ll buy TikTok to prevent it from being banned,” he joked on social media.
The US government has accused TikTok of enabling Beijing to gather user data, conduct surveillance, and disseminate propaganda.
Both ByteDance and China have firmly rejected these allegations, categorically denying any wrongdoing.
As TikTok faces an impending ban in the US, American content creators are turning to another Chinese social media platform for refuge.
Xiaohongshu, or Red Note in English, climbed to the top of the Apple App Store charts on Monday, attracting users with its unique Instagram-meets-Pinterest interface.
Influencer Jen Hamilton, who boasts 3.9 million TikTok followers, humorously announced her transition to the platform in a video.
“Oh, you don’t want the Chinese to have our highly sensitive personal data?” she quipped with sarcasm, promoting her move to Xiaohongshu.
In the same video, she joked, “I cannot stress enough how little I care that the Chinese have my data,” while referencing a user who “changed their username to their social security number” to help alleged spies “get promoted faster.”
