TikTok denies rumours of sale to Elon Musk amid US ban, calls it ‘pure fiction’: Report

ByteDance owned social media platform TikTok has denied the reports on the potential sale of the app to billionaire and Tesla boss Elon Musk to continue its operations amid a possible ban by the US government , reported Variety.

Earlier, a report emerged stating that “Chinese officials are evaluating a potential option that involves Elon Musk acquiring the US operations of TikTok” if the US government enacts a law that would require ByteDance, a Chinese company, to divest its stake or the app will be banned, Bloomberg said citing anonymous sources.

“We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction,” a TikTok spokesperson told Variety.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk has not yet commented on the report, who bought the social media platform Twitter 2022 in a $44 billion deal. He later renamed the platform to X.

The Chinese government has discussed “one scenario” where X would “take control of TikTok US and run the businesses together,” the Bloomberg report said. While it is still “unclear whether Musk, TikTok and ByteDance have held any talks about the terms of any possible deal," it added.

TikTok ban

There have been concerns that TikTok will be banned in the US on January 19 unless the Supreme Court issues an order to stop it.

The US Supreme Court has heard arguments in TikTok's emergency appeal to block the law. Both TikTok and ByteDance have argued that the law violates the First Amendment rights of the app users. However, the US government claims the China-based TikTok poses a national security threat.

ByteDance has not mentioned whether the sale of its nearly 40 per cent stake in TikTok will impact the US ban. Earlier, Chinese officials stated that any attempt by ByteDance to sell a stake in TikTok would be blocked as it would be deemed a technology export, according to the Variety report.

Last year, Congress passed a divest-or-ban legislation for TikTok that received bipartisan support and was signed by President Joe Biden. The US has constantly raised concerns over Chinese ownership of TikTok, threatening the national security of the world's largest economy.

US President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to suspend the law that will be implemented from January 19 to permit the government to pursue a “negotiated resolution that could prevent a nationwide shutdown of TikTok, thus preserving the First Amendment rights of tens of millions of Americans, while also addressing the government’s national security concerns.”

In his first term, Trump tried to sell TikTok to US-based companies over national security concerns.