China Weighs the Possibility of Selling TikTok’s U.S. Operations to Elon Musk to Avoid Ban
Over the past 4 years, TikTok has been involved in a back-and-forth legal battle with the U.S. government over user privacy concerns and potential national security threats. As of March 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a law to ban TikTok unless it divests from ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company). President Joe Biden signed this law on April 24th, 2024, and a deadline was set; TikTok would have until January 19th, 2025, to sell its U.S. operations or otherwise face a nationwide ban.
As the deadline nears, Chinese officials have been considering the possibility of selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to a non-Chinese investor, with Elon Musk—one of Trump’s closest allies—mentioned as a potential buyer. This last-ditch effort aims to allow TikTok to continue its operations in the U.S. even though Chinese senior officials would prefer it remains under the ownership of ByteDance as reported by Bloomberg.
Elon Musk has been a strong supporter and close friend of President-Elect Donald Trump. He generously donated $250 million to boost Trump’s re-election campaign and is now set to assume a prominent role in government once the Republican takes office on January 20th.
Back in April 2024, Musk commented on the potential TikTok ban, saying: “In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform,” he wrote on X. “Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”
This has made Musk an appealing candidate for the Chinese government to sell the app to, but so far, no firm consensus has been reached over the matter as deliberations remain preliminary in China. It’s also still unclear how much ByteDance knows about the Chinese government’s and Musk’s involvement or if any talks have been held by the three parties over the terms of any possible deal.
The Chinese government had previously denounced U.S. attempts to ban TikTok and force a sale, labeling these actions as “economic bullying” and “plundering.” However, government agencies, including The Cyberspace Administration of China and China’s Ministry of Commerce, refused to comment on the sale possibility. “We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction,” a ByteDance representative said.
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments discussing the law potentially banning the app. TikTok’s legal team argued that the app has around 170 million users in the U.S., and this law violates their right to freedom of speech. On the other side, the U.S. government said that ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok poses a national security risk.
With the Supreme Court appearing to side with the government, TikTok could turn to Trump when his second term begins on Jan 20th. Even though Trump had favored a TikTok ban during his first term in office, he has since flip-flopped on the matter. Last month, Trump urged the Supreme Court to delay the implementation of Biden’s ban so that he could have time to find a “political resolution.”
As of today, the future of TikTok in the U.S. remains uncertain, with critical decisions pending from the Supreme Court and potential corporate negotiations. Nonetheless, it’s safe to say that the outcome will significantly impact users, the tech industry, and U.S.-China relations.