China is considering an option of selling TikTok’s operations in the United States to billionaire Elon Musk, Bloomberg reported.
Screens displaying the logo of Grok, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI, the American company specializing in artificial intelligence and it's founder Elon Musk. (AFP)
The report claimed that the option is being considered if the social media giant cannot avoid a controversial ban being proposed by US authorities.
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Bloomberg added that the first preference of the Chinese officials is that TikTok remain under parent ByteDance. If that cannot be achieved, they were are discussing potential contingencies, including the sale to Musk.
Speculation over a ban on TikTok grew as the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump draws near, especially given that Trump has promised to adopt an even stricter stance against Beijing.
ByteDance contesting TikTok ban in US Supreme Court
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ByteDance is contesting the ban on TikTok in the US Supreme Court. However, recent developments showed that the judges were likely to uphold any potential ban on the short video platform.
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ByteDance is contesting the ban on TikTok in the US Supreme Court. However, recent developments showed that the judges were likely to uphold any potential ban on the short video platform.
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The Supreme Court gave ByteDance a January 19 deadline to either sell TikTok or face a potential ban in the country on national security grounds.
TikTok is used by roughly half of the US population, and the company caters to around 170 million users. Lawmakers had raised concerns that the platform was collecting US user data and undermining national security. The Congress voted in favour of the ban last year.
A TikTok ban is good news for other US social media platforms such as Meta Platforms' Instagram and Alphabet’s YouTube. Both are competitors of the Chinese social media giant and have rolled out their own short video platforms.
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A sale of the social media platform to Elon Musk could bring it closer to his treatment of Twitter, which the Tesla and SpaceX CEO bought in 2023 and rebranded as “X.”
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Home/World News/Us News/China considering TikTok US sale to Elon Musk if company fails to fend off potential ban: Report
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