China discusses selling TikTok's US division to Musk - Bloomberg
Illustrative photo: China discusses selling Mask the US unit of TikTok (Getty Images)
Chinese officials are considering selling TikTok's US division to billionaire Elon Musk, Bloomberg reports.
According to the media source, Chinese officials insist that TikTok should remain under the ownership of its parent company, ByteDance Ltd. The company is generally trying to challenge the potential ban in the United States by appealing to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, during debates on January 10, judges signaled that they are likely to support the law.
As a result, high-ranking Chinese officials have begun discussing contingency plans for TikTok. At the same time, a deal with billionaire and ally of US President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, holds certain appeal for the Chinese government.
"Under one scenario that's been discussed by the Chinese government, Musk's X - the former Twitter - would take control of TikTok US and run the businesses together, the people said. With more than 170 million users in the US, TikTok could bolster X's efforts to attract advertisers. Musk also founded a separate artificial intelligence company, xAI, that could benefit from the huge amounts of data generated from TikTok," Bloomberg explains.
However, it is noted that officials have not yet reached a consensus on this issue.
Attempts to ban TikTok in US
Back in 2020, Trump attempted to block the download of WeChat and TikTok in the US, but a year later, current President Joe Biden withdrew the Republican's executive orders. That same year, the Democrat signed a law preventing access to TikTok and its use on government devices.
In 2024, Biden signed a bill requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or the app would be banned in the United States. In December, the company appealed to the Supreme Court, but, according to media reports, most judges are likely to support the ban.
