TikTok Reacts To Report Of Possible Sale To Musk’s X

The scenario proposed by the report involved X purchasing TikTok from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and merging it with Twitter.

In response, a TikTok spokesperson told AFP, “We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction.”

The report had estimated the value of TikTok’s US operations to be between $40 billion and $50 billion.

However, it was unclear how Musk, currently the world’s richest person, would execute such a transaction, or whether he would need to sell other assets to do so.

This comes amid a US law passed last year that requires ByteDance to either sell TikTok or shut it down.

The law, which takes effect this Sunday—just a day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office—accuses TikTok of allowing Beijing to access user data and spread propaganda, allegations that both China and ByteDance deny.

TikTok has appealed the law, bringing its case to the US Supreme Court, where during oral arguments last Friday, several justices, both conservative and liberal, expressed skepticism regarding TikTok’s claim that the forced sale violated First Amendment rights.

Bloomberg’s report also noted that Beijing’s consideration of the sale to Musk is still in its early stages, with Chinese officials yet to reach a consensus on how to proceed.

Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, maintains close ties with Trump and is expected to have significant influence in Washington over the next few years. Tesla has a major presence in China, where it sees substantial market potential.

The report also mentioned that Trump had previously threatened to impose new tariffs on Chinese goods, a strategy that was largely continued by President Biden, further intensifying the US-China trade conflict.