TikTok Debunks Report of Sale To Elon Musk

TikTok has called a report that China is considering allowing a sale of the social media company’s US operations to Elon Musk “pure fiction.”

The firm’s comments came in response to a report by Bloomberg that Chinese officials are weighing an option that could see its business in America being sold to the world’s richest person if the US Supreme Court upholds a ban on the app.

Supreme Court justices are due to rule on a law that set a 19 January deadline for TikTok to either sell its US operations or face a ban in the country.

TikTok has repeatedly said that it will not sell its US operation.

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

Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that one possible scenario being considered by Chinese officials would see Musk’s X social media platform take control of TikTok’s US operations.

X did not immediately reply to a BBC request for comment.

Musk is a close ally of US president-elect Donald Trump, who is set to return to the White House on 20 January.

Last month, Trump urged the Supreme Court to delay its decision until he takes office to enable him to seek a “political resolution”.

His lawyer filed a legal brief with the court that says Trump “opposes banning TikTok” and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office”.

That came a week after Trump met TikTok’s chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

On Monday, two Democratic lawmakers, Senator Edward Markey and Representative Ro Khanna, also called on Congress and the President Joe Biden to extend the 19 January deadline.

During a Supreme Court hearing last week, justices appeared inclined to uphold the legislation and stick to the deadline.

During nearly three hours of arguments, the nine justices returned time and again to the national security concerns that gave rise to the law.

The Biden administration has argued that without a sale, TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

The company has repeatedly denied any influence by the Chinese Communist Party and has said the law to ban it in the US violates the First Amendment free speech rights of its users.