TikTok Finally Addresses Report of Selling Company to Elon Musk
- Chinese officials reportedly considered selling TikTok's US operations to Elon Musk's social media platform X
- This is in response to an American statute that mandates the company's rapid divestiture from China
- TikTok however referred to the report of selling the US division of the video-sharing app to Musk as pure fiction
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Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has 5-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
TikTok on Tuesday called a claim that China is considering selling the video-sharing platform's US business to billionaire Elon Musk "pure fiction."
Source: Getty Images
This is as the company faces an American law requiring immediate Chinese divestiture.
Bloomberg News has previously claimed that Chinese officials were contemplating selling the company's US operations to Musk's social media platform X, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the situation.
One possibility that was being explored in Beijing, according to the article, was for X to buy TikTok from its Chinese owner ByteDance and merge it with the website that was originally known as Twitter.
“We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction,” a TikTok spokesperson told AFP.
According to the research, TikTok's US business operations are worth between $40 billion and $50 billion.
Despite being the richest person in the world right now, Bloomberg reported it was unclear how Musk might complete the deal or whether he would have to sell other assets.
Last year, the US Congress passed a law requiring ByteDance to either sell its enormously popular platform or shut it down. This is expected to take effect the day before Donald Trump, the president-elect, assumes office.
The US government believes TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users and is a conduit to propagate propaganda. China and ByteDance strongly deny the claims.
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in an appeal that TikTok filed against the statute on Friday.
The majority of the nine-member bench's conservative and liberal justices seemed dubious of a TikTok attorney's claims during the hearing that pressuring a sale violated the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.
According to Bloomberg, Beijing's contemplation of a potential Musk deal is "still preliminary," as Chinese officials have not yet agreed on a course of action.
As a close ally of Trump, Musk is anticipated to have a significant impact on Washington during the next four years. Additionally, he is the CEO of Tesla, an electric car company with a large factory in China and one of its largest markets.
Trump has threatened to impose new tariffs on Chinese goods on numerous occasions, which would intensify a trade war that was started during his first term and that was mainly maintained—and in some cases reinforced—by former President Joe Biden.
US Supreme Court to hear TikTok ban case
Legit.ng reported that the US Supreme Court is to hear TikTok's appeal on Friday of a law that would force its Chinese owner to sell the wildly popular online video-sharing platform or shut it down.
The top court is holding oral arguments in the case nine days before TikTok faces a ban unless ByteDance divests from the popular app.
Signed by President Joe Biden in April, the law would block TikTok from US app stores and web hosting services unless ByteDance sells its stake by January 19.
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Source: Legit.ng
