Elon Musk in talks to acquire TikTok
Chinese authorities are considering the possibility of Elon Musk acquiring TikTok’s US subsidiary if the popular platform is banned in the country by the end of the week, Bloomberg reported.
Last year, the United States passed a law forcing Chinese entertainment giant ByteDance to sell TikTok by January 19, 2025.
If it doesn’t comply, the app will be banned in the country, where its used by 170 million people.
The case reached the US Supreme Court, which heard arguments from both sides on Friday.
Washington said it wanted to avoid the risk of spying and manipulation by Beijing, while the social network and rights groups accused the law of suppressing freedom of expression.
A majority of the judges said they were inclined to allow the TikTok ban.
The Chinese government and ByteDance have long been vocal in their opposition to the sale of TikTok’s US arm.
But confidential sources told Bloomberg that senior Chinese officials have begun discussing contingency plans for TikTok as part of broader discussions about how to work with the Donald Trump administration, one of which includes Musk.
Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, surprised everyone when he announced his intention to buy Twitter in early 2022.
After fluctuations and campaigns on this platform, he eventually bought it for $44 billion.
Musk, the world’s richest man, changed Twitter’s name to X and used the platform to widely support Donald Trump, in addition to his large financial contributions to the Republican candidate.
Bloomberg explained, “Under a scenario set by the Chinese government, X would buy TikTok’s US branch and run both companies together”.
According to Bloomberg, the discussions were in their early stages.
Trump, who will assume the US presidency again in a week, tried to ban TikTok at the end of his first term in 2020, also in the name of national security.
But he went back on his positions, stressing that he has a weakness towards the application and its young audience.
In addition to electric cars and space rockets, Musk has co-founded other companies, including XAI, which specializes in generative artificial intelligence, which requires a huge amount of new data, and social media networks are an ideal source for feeding artificial intelligence models.
Musk also has political responsibilities, as Trump has given him an advisory mission to rationalize federal budgets.
