Having already acquired Twitter and turned it into X, Elon Musk may be about to take ownership of TikTok. That is if rumors emerging from China turn out to be correct. Selling to Elon Musk may be the only way for TikTok to avoid being banned outright in the US within a matter of days.
Reports Suggest That Elon Musk May Be Buying TikTok
As first reported by Bloomberg, Chinese governmental officials are considering selling TikTok to Elon Musk in an effort to save the app from being banned in the United States. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, but the Chinese government controls ByteDance’s Chinese subsidiary Douyin, and is also thought to have a big say in what ByteDance does with TikTok in the US.
ByteDance has repeatedly said that it will sell TikTok to beat any ban. And when asked to respond to the claims that Elon Musk could be acquiring TikTok in the US, a spokesperson told the BBC, “We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction.” However, with TikTok set to be banned in the US from January 19, time is running out for the company.
Elon Musk has not (yet) commented on the report, to either confirm or deny that he’s interested in acquiring TikTok. However, in April 2024, before he jumped on the Donald Trump bandwagon, he did post on X decrying the potential US ban. So, now that he’s about to be part of the US Government, he could seek to prevent that ban from proceeding.
Time Is Running Out for TikTok to Beat Being Banned
There have been threats to ban TikTok in the US for many years, by both the Trump and Biden administrations. However, while many states have restricted the installation of the app on state-owned devices, any wider bans preventing the public from accessing the app have so far proved unsuccessful.
This is all set to change on January 19, 2025, though, as TikTok is set to be banned across the whole United States. In April 2024, President Biden gave ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, nine months to find a buyer or face a country-wide ban in the US. And the US Supreme Court looks set to uphold the law.
