Okay, there are a lot of gaps in this story at present, and it’s not as straightforward as some headlines may suggest.
But reportedly, Chinese government officials have been exploring the possibility of Elon Musk taking control of TikTok in the U.S., as a means to keep the app available to American users, if the government’s forced sell-off bill is upheld by the Supreme Court, as expected, this week.
The story first broke late yesterday, that Elon may take control of TikTok as an alternative to the app being banned in the U.S. TikTok quickly denied the speculation, and dismissed the report as “pure fiction.”
But further reporting has supported the concept, while also noting that neither TikTok itself nor Elon Musk may have any involvement in a potential deal at this stage, with Chinese government officials apparently floating the idea as a means to keep the app in the U.S.
According to new information from Bloomberg, Chinese officials, who have thus far opposed the sale of TikTok, in defiance of what they see as U.S. Government overreach, are now looking into the potential of the billionaire X owner taking control of the U.S. arm of the app.
As per Bloomberg:
“Under one scenario that’s been discussed by the Chinese government, Musk’s X – the former Twitter – would take control of TikTok U.S. and run the businesses together, the people said. With more than 170 million users in the U.S., TikTok could bolster X’s efforts to attract advertisers. Musk also founded a separate artificial intelligence company, xAI, that could benefit from the huge amounts of data generated from TikTok.”
The view from Beijing, reportedly, is that Elon Musk, who already has a close working relationship with the Chinese government via his other companies (primarily Tesla), could be viewed as a trusted intermediary to maintain TikTok in the region, thereby keeping the app connected to its 170 million U.S. users, and meeting the demands of the U.S. government, in relation to ownership.
It’s fairly vague at present, and Elon Musk himself hasn’t made any comment on the potential of a TikTok takeover. Chinese officials are also not saying anything on record at this stage.
TikTok’s currently in the midst of a Supreme Court appeal against the U.S. government’s enforced sell-off bill, which, thus far, doesn’t look set to overturn the senate-approved order. Which is why Chinese officials are now, apparently, scrambling for alternatives, and it does seem possible at least that a Musk-TikTok partnership could be one avenue they may look to take.
Which would put Elon in charge of another major social platform, and could have major ramifications for the broader industry.
Again, there’s a lot of reading between the lines here, and a lot that would have to happen for any such deal to go ahead. But it is possible that Elon Musk could take control of TikTok U.S., as a compromise to keep it running.
