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Chinese officials are discussing potentially including Elon Musk in a deal over TikTok’s US operations, days before the Chinese-owned social media app faces a ban from Washington, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
TikTok is set to be shut down in the US next Sunday under a law passed by Congress back in April that requires its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to sell its stake in the app or face a ban over security concerns.
According to people familiar with the official talks, the plans may not be as simple as trying to sell TikTok to Musk, the billionaire owner of social media app X and a close confidant of US President-elect Donald Trump. However, they are hoping that Musk could help find a solution that could prevent the platform from being forced to shut down.
According to one of them, the discussions at this stage are “very preliminary and mostly brainstorming”. The ByteDance and TikTok teams remain focused on winning the legal battle with the US government, the people added.
Bloomberg reported earlier on Tuesday that Chinese officials were considering selling TikTok to Musk. In response, TikTok said, “We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction.”
The law to seize or ban TikTok goes into effect on Sunday, the day before Trump’s inauguration. The US Supreme Court has indicated it will likely leave the law in place. Both Trump and Musk have previously suggested that TikTok should be bailed out in the US.
Musk has a good relationship with Chinese officials, which puts him in an influential position to arbitrate deals such as the sale of TikTok. The Tesla boss has been doing business in China regularly for several years across his business empire, with regular interactions with government officials at various levels.
Last April, the billionaire flew to Beijing and met with Li Qiang, President Xi Jinping’s number two, in what experts say was a sign of Beijing’s approval of Musk and his technology plans.
Moreover, Musk has a strong economic interest in maintaining friendly relations with China, as Tesla’s share of Chinese electric vehicle sales has fallen significantly over the past year. Tesla first debuted a major Model Y update in China earlier this month.
Musk also owns an artificial intelligence startup x.AI, whose technology is trained on X users’ posts, and will benefit from access to massive amounts of TikTok data.
TikTok has exploded in popularity among teenagers and now has 170 million users in the US. It has been targeted by Washington officials amid concerns that Beijing could use the app for espionage or propaganda purposes.
During a hearing at the US Supreme Court last week, TikTok denied the allegations and argued that the law violates the First Amendment’s free speech protections.
Trump vowed to “save the application” and asked the court to delay the legal deadline to allow “an opportunity to politically resolve the contentious issues in the case” when he returns to the White House later this month.
Musk posted on X in April: “In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the US, even though such a ban could benefit the X platform,” he wrote on X. “It would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression . That is not what America stands for.”
TikTok argued that the spin-off would be technically “unfeasible” ahead of schedule. Beijing, which would have a say on any confiscation under China’s export laws, also said it opposed the sale and branded the law a “blatant act of commercial robbery.”
Jones Day’s Noel Francisco, a lawyer for TikTok, said Friday that a takeover would be “extremely difficult in any time frame.” Asked what would happen on January 19 if the company loses this case, he replied: “My understanding is we’re going dark.”
Musk did not immediately respond to a Financial Times request for comment. China’s Cyberspace Administration and China’s Ministry of Commerce did not respond to calls outside business hours.
Additional reporting by Hannah Murphy in San Francisco and Stefanie Palma in Washington DC
