Elon Musk to buy TikTok US? New report claims Chinese officials want Tesla CEO to…

Chinese officials are exploring an option for Elon Musk to take over TikTok if the popular social media company fails to avoid a ban in the US, Bloomberg reports. While Chinese officials would reportedly prefer to keep TikTok in the hands of parent company ByteDance, senior government officials have already begun discussing contingency plans for TikTok and how to work with the incoming Donald Trump administration.

Notably, TikTok has appealed the impending ban in the US to the Supreme Court, but the justices have shown an inclination to uphold the law, which would force the company to be sold or face a ban in the country by January 19.

Reportedly, the Chinese government - which is expected to have some say in the matter - is looking at a potential scenario where Musk buys TikTok US and runs it along with X, the social media platform he bought in 2022.

Meanwhile, a TikTok spokesperson while talking to Variety reacted to the report, stating "“We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction,” 

Why would Elon Musk be interested in buying TikTok?

Notably, TikTok's 170 million users could significantly improve Musk's position vis-a-vis advertisers and potentially help solve one of the biggest issues faced by his social media platform. Advertisers have been fleeing X/Twitter, ever since the billionaire took control in late 2022 and brought in drastic changes. In order to offset the loss of fleeing advertisers and diversify revenue streams, Musk has instead focused on building subscription base for X via the company's Premium member programme.

Moreover, Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI could benefit from the huge amount of data collected by TikTok. xAI's Grok chatbot already leverages the data on X to provide real-time search results and the Tik Tok inclusion could help build on that functionality.

US lawmakers urge Biden to extend deadline for TikTok ban:

According to a Reuters report, two Democratic lawmakers have urged President Joe Biden and Congress to extend the January 19 deadline for the sale or ban in order to allow 170 million Americans to continue using the app.

President Biden could extend the deadline by 90 days if he certifies that ByteDance is making substantial progress towards divestiture, but the company is unlikely to meet that standard, the report added.

US Senator Edward Markey is planning to bring legislation to delay the Jan 19 deadline by an additional 270 days.

"A ban would dismantle a one-of-a-kind informational and cultural ecosystem, silencing millions in the process," Markey was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"A TikTok ban would impose serious consequences on millions of Americans who depend on the app for social connections and their economic livelihood. We cannot allow that to happen." the Senator added

Why is TikTok facing ban in the US?

A law passed by a bipartisan majority in the US Congress in April and signed by President Biden requires TikTok to sell off the company by Jan 19, or face a ban in the US. The Bill also prevents ByteDance from controlling TikTok's core technology, which feeds users video content based on their interests, making the platform a hit among the young generation.

During the recent proceedings in front of the Supreme Court, the President Biden-led Justice Department warned about the “grave national-security threats” posed by Chinese ownership of TikTok. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued that the platform collects “sensitive data about tens of millions of Americans” and could be exploited for covert foreign influence operations.

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump, in a filing, has urged the Supreme Court to pause a law to ban the social media platform if its Chinese parent company does not sell it. Trump asked the court for time following his January 20 inauguration to “seek a negotiated resolution” to the conflict. While refraining from taking a definitive position on the constitutionality of the law, which is scheduled to take effect on January 19, he acknowledged it raised “sweeping and troubling” free speech concerns, as per the report.

Notably, In his first term, President Trump had expressed a willingness to let TikTok be sold to a U.S. company, emphasising that the federal government should benefit financially from any sale.