In a move that will come as no surprise to many, the world's richest man could be poised to throw TikTok a lifeline. Chinese internet company ByteDance owns the short-form video hosting service, but with concerns that it could be used to spy on Americans, the U.S. government has threatened to ban the app as early as January 2025. January 19 is the all-important day, and with the clock ticking toward the deadline, ByteDance has been told that it has to sell to a non-Chinese organization or TikTok will be going dark in America.
President-elect Donald Trump has already intervened to ask for a delay, but with the Supreme Court throwing its weight around, many have been preparing for a TikTok-free America from January 19.
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Now, Elon Musk is tipped to swoop in and save the day. Although Beijing officials would prefer TikTok to stay under ByteDance, Bloomberg News reports that Musk is in preliminary talks to acquire the app’s U.S. operations.
Sources claim that TikTok's U.S. operations could sold through a competitive process or a forced arrangement by the government, suggesting that ByteDance no longer has a say in what happens next.
One potential scenario could see Musk's X platform absorb TikTok's in the U.S. and run the pair side by side. Then again, Bloomberg notes that a consensus hasn't yet been reached.
Considering TikTok has some 170 million users in the USA, it could be a lucrative partnership that would help Musk attract advertisers to X. The site also says that Musk's xAI artificial intelligence company could benefit from the masses of data that TikTok generates.
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With the Chinese government having a 'golden share' in ByteDance, this is said to be a contributing factor in why members of Congress are concerned about its hold over TikTok.
At the time of writing, Musk and his representatives didn't respond to requests for comment, nor did the Cyberspace Administration of China and China’s Ministry of Commerce government agencies expected to be involved in these all-important decisions.
Musk has been vocal about TikTok's potential ban, posting on X in April 2024 and saying: "In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform.
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“Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for."
The impending Trump administration has already pointed at tough times ahead for China, with increased tariffs and export controls poised to improve U.S. industries and clamp down on Chinese ones.
Still, it's thought that these TikTok negotiations could be some form of reconciliation between these opposing world powers.
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Mandeep Singh and Damian Reimertz estimated that TikTok's U.S. operations are valued at anywhere between $40 billion and $50 billion, so it's unclear how a deal with Musk would work. Even though he's by far and away the world's richest man, he's still paying off some sizeable loans from his Twitter purchase in 2022.
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TikTok isn't out of the woods yet, but Elon Musk taking the reins wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen in the tech world.