If TikTok is banned, Chinese authorities are thinking about having Elon Musk buy the company's US operations. Although they would rather maintain TikTok under ByteDance, Musk's participation might be advantageous in talks with the Trump administration. Preliminary discussions are still ongoing.
According to Bloomberg, Chinese authorities are considering the possibility of Elon Musk taking over TikTok in the event that the well-known social media platform is banned in the US. Senior government officials have already started talking about backup plans for TikTok and how to cooperate with the new Donald Trump administration, despite reports that Chinese officials would prefer to retain the app in the hands of parent company ByteDance.Notably, the Supreme Court has been inclined to support the regulation, which would require TikTok to be sold or face a ban in the US by January 19. The firm has appealed the upcoming prohibition to the court.
According to reports, the Chinese government, which is anticipated to have some influence over the situation, is considering the possibility that Musk may acquire TikTok US and operate it alongside X, the social media network he purchased in 2022.
In response to the story, a TikTok representative told Variety, "We can't be expected to comment on pure fiction."
Why would Elon Musk want to purchase TikTok?
Notably, Musk's standing with advertisers might be greatly enhanced by TikTok's 170 million members, which could also help address one of the main problems the social media platform is now facing. Since the billionaire took over in late 2022 and made significant changes, advertisers have been avoiding X/Twitter. Musk has instead concentrated on growing the X subscription base through the company's Premium member program in order to make up for the loss of escaping advertising and diversify sources of income.
Furthermore, TikTok's massive data collection could be advantageous to Musk's artificial intelligence startup, xAI. The Tik Tok integration may contribute to the development of xAI's Grok chatbot, which already uses X data to deliver real-time search results.
US Senators call on Biden to extend the TikTok ban deadline:
Two Democratic legislators have pushed President Joe Biden and Congress to extend the deadline for the sale or ban until January 19 so that 170 million Americans can continue to use the app, according to a Reuters story.
According to the source, if President Biden certifies that ByteDance is making significant progress toward divestiture, he might extend the deadline by ninety days. However, the company is unlikely to satisfy that requirement.
According to Markey, "A ban would dismantle a one-of-a-kind informational and cultural ecosystem, silencing millions in the process," Reuters said.
Millions of Americans rely on TikTok for both their social networks and their financial well-being, so a ban would have major repercussions. We must not permit that to occur. The Senator further said
Why is TikTok being banned in the United States?
TikTok must sell the business by January 19 or risk being banned in the US, according to a law signed by President Biden and approved by a bipartisan majority in the US Congress in April. Additionally, the Bill bans ByteDance from owning TikTok's fundamental technology, which makes the platform popular among young people by delivering video material to users according on their interests.
The Justice Department, led by President Biden, issued a warning about the "severe national-security threats" presented by Chinese ownership of TikTok during the recent Supreme Court deliberations. The platform gathers "sensitive data about tens of millions of Americans," according to Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, and might be used for clandestine foreign influence activities.
In the meanwhile, if the Chinese parent firm does not sell the social media site, President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to halt a bill that would ban it. After his inauguration on January 20, Trump requested time from the court to "seek a negotiated resolution" to the dispute. He agreed that the bill had “sweeping and troubling” free expression concerns, according to the article, but he refrained from making a firm decision on whether it is constitutional. The law is set to go into force on January 19.
Notably, President Trump had stated during his first term that he would be open to TikTok being sold to a U.S. corporation, with the caveat that such transaction should result in financial gains for the federal government.
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