TikTok responds to reports it could be sold to billionaire X owner Elon Musk
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TikTok has dismissed rumours that it might sell its US operations to the mogul Elon Musk as "pure fiction". Reports from Bloomberg News indicated that officials in China, where TikTok's parent company ByteDance is based, are considering a sale to the billionaire if they can't reverse a looming US ban.
However, a spokesperson for TikTok retorted: "We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction." The social media platform is under threat of a US ban starting January 19 due to national security worries about China's potential influence on TikTok, allegations the firm has consistently refuted.
ByteDance faces an ultimatum to divest TikTok's US business or see the app prohibited in America. According to the report, Chinese authorities have initiated preliminary discussions about a possible sale to Mr Musk if the ban cannot be stopped. It suggests that TikTok's fate in the US could be decided either through a competitive sale process or by a directive from the Chinese government, indicating that ByteDance may no longer have full control over the situation.
The incoming US president, Donald Trump, has hinted that his administration might halt the ban, but he will take office after the ban's scheduled implementation. He has proposed delaying the deadline to allow time for a "political resolution". Last week during a hearing on the issue, the US Supreme Court seemed inclined to uphold the ban, with justices appearing persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company’s connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech of either TikTok or its 170 million users in the US. ByteDance has previously stated it will not sell the short-form video platform, but some investors have been eyeing it, including Mr Trump’s former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire businessman Frank McCourt.
