Chinese government officials are reportedly discussing a scenario in which ByteDance sells the US arm of TikTok to Elon Musk, if the Supreme Court upholds the law banning the application on January 19. Bloomberg reported that China would prefer TikTok to remain under ByteDance ownership, but said government officials have considered the sale to Musk as part of a broader plan to work with incoming president Donald Trump’s administration. In that scenario, Musk’s X would acquire TikTok US, effectively absorbing the vertical video platform’s 170 million American users and billions in potential ad revenue. A TikTok spokesperson called the report “pure fiction” in a statement to Variety. The report said it was unclear how ByteDance and TikTok knew about China’s discussions about Musk’s sale, which could highlight China’s alleged influence over the platform that enacted the law in the first place.
China is reportedly considering selling US TikTok to Elon Musk
