China might try to sell TikTok to Musk to avoid ban in US
It’s still not clear whether TikTok will be banned in the United States. But China, where the app’s parent company ByteDance is based, has an idea: to sell TikTok to Elon Musk.
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It’s still not clear whether TikTok will be banned in the United States. But China, where the app’s parent company ByteDance is based, has an idea: to sell TikTok to Elon Musk.
The fate of TikTok is still going to be decided in the US Supreme Court which is deliberating the company’s appeal of the impending ban. However, justices strongly signaled last week that they are likely to uphold the law.
The latter would ban the TikTok platform in the US if it isn’t sold by its Chinese parent company by January 19th.
ByteDance would have probably preferred the court to focus on free speech – but a majority of justices see US national security concerns as more important because ByteDance, according to the US Congress, has dangerously close ties with China’s Communist government.
The clock is ticking fast. If TikTok was banned, it wouldn’t immediately disappear for users but no updates would be available and its performance would most likely deteriorate. Careful to avoid massive fines, Google and Apple wouldn’t host and distribute TikTok and the app updates anymore.
That’s why, even though the Chinese company has consistently insisted it won’t consider a sale of TikTok that the law requires, officials are now making urgent contingency plans, according to Bloomberg sources.
One of the scenarios allegedly discussed in China’s government circles – this would also demonstrate that ByteDance isn’t exactly independent – would allege a deal to sell TikTok to Musk, a billionaire with extremely close ties to US President-elect Donald Trump.
People involved in confidential discussions say that Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, would take control of TikTok US and run these platforms together.
According to Bloomberg, carrots are involved to make the potential deal more attractive to Musk. TikTok’s 170 million users in America could help X attract more advertisers, and Musk’s AI company xAI could benefit from the vast amounts of data generated from TikTok.
It’s unclear whether Musk, ByteDance, and TikTok have talked about the terms of the deal, and TikTok has firmly stated the reports of a possible rate are "pure fiction." But the stars are aligned – Musk said back in April he didn’t want TikTok to be banned in the US, and Trump clearly prefers it to remain available in the country.
In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the 𝕏 platform.
undefined Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2024
Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.
Trump previously vilified TikTok as a national security threat and even tried to ban it. But he’s now defending the platform and even asked the Supreme Court in December to pause the ban.
Right after his inauguration, Trump could also try to convince the Republican-controlled Congress to repeal the original 2024 law. However, that would be tremendously politically difficult, so his other option is to simply direct the Department of Justice not to enforce the law.
TikTok’s US operations could be valued at around $40-50 billion, last year’s estimates show. But if Musk had money to acquire Twitter, he surely has the cash to pay for TikTok, too. Besides, he’s very well-liked in China and has experience in dealing with the Chinese government.