Chinese government officials have reportedly discussed a scenario in which ByteDance sells TikTok’s US arm to Elon Musk, should that happen. The Supreme Court upheld the law banning the app on January 19.
Bloomberg reports China strongly prefers TikTok to remain under ByteDance ownership, but says government officials have considered selling to Musk as part of a broader plan to work with the administration of incoming President Donald Trump. In this scenario, Musk’s X company would acquire TikTok US, effectively absorbing the vertical video platform’s 170 million US users and billions in potential ad revenue.
A TikTok spokesperson described the report as “pure fiction” in a statement to diverse.
The report notes that it’s unclear how much ByteDance and TikTok know about China’s discussions about selling Musk, which could shed light on China’s alleged influence on the platform that brought about this law in the first place.
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