Chinese government officials have reportedly discussed a scenario where ByteDance sells TikTok’s United States arm to Elon Musk, should the Supreme Court uphold the law banning the app on January 19.
Bloomberg reports that China would strongly prefer for TikTok to stay under ByteDance’s ownership, but says government officials have considered a sale to Musk as part of a broader plan to work with incoming president Donald Trump’s administration. In that scenario, Musk’s X would acquire TikTok US, effectively absorbing the vertical video platform’s 170 million American users and billions in potential ad revenue.
A TikTok spokesperson called the report “pure fiction” in a statement to Variety.
The report states it is unclear how much ByteDance and TikTok know about China’s discussions of a Musk sale, potentially highlighting China’s alleged influence over the platform which brought about this law in the first place.
